Divine Reset - The Epic Path
by ExBlazE
Summary: The Seventh Hokage is sent back to his five year old body by a bored Goddess, reasoning that she wanted more excitement and hence, a new life story. One in which he, quote 'kicks ass in an epic fashion'. Naruto, seeing that he has no other choice against her, accepts her demand. Tags: Naruto Time Travel, Possible Harem, OP Naruto, Naruto-centric
1. Popcorn, Impressions & Training

**Author's Note (A/N):** Hey guys, nice to meet you again... metaphorically... through the screen. Anyway, this is actually my second attempt at writing a story after semi-abandoning the first one. It's better if you don't read it. It _may_ be nice, but it's a little too predictable.

Now, here's a story which is basically another time travel story but for a stupid reason, instead of serious stuff like losing the war, or everyone died, or desperate actions like that.

 **EDIT (03/11/2016):** I wanted to inform new readers that the first chapter is somewhat dull. Yes, dull. Things will pick up and become at least a little more interesting from the next chapter and the actual canon timeline starts from the end of Chapter 5. If possible, please give my story a chance.

Now, on to the chapter!

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own anything even remotely associated with the word Naruto. Except this fic... which I won't let anyone sue me for!

* * *

Chapter 1: Popcorn, Impressions and Training

Uzumaki Naruto. The man revered as the Seventh Hokage and the son of the legendary Yellow Flash, Namikaze Minato, the Fourth Hokage. The man who was _arguably_ the strongest ninja of his time. His reign as Hokage continued on for more than a decade. He had nearly no regrets and planned to continue his duty for many more years to come.

A splendid morning one day in the beautiful village of Konohagakure no Sato, the sun was now slowly rising past the Hokage Monument, a giant cliff face with the faces of the previous Hokage sculpted into it. Morning dew was sparkling on the leaves of the village. People were slowly beginning their daily duties and opening their stores and stalls.

In a room in a certain building, a blond haired boy groaned in his sleep. He rolled to the side and promptly fell off the side of the bed and landed face down.

The boy got up, rubbing his face and brushing the dust off from his white t-shirt and black shorts, his eyes half closed and yawned. He then looked around while stretching his arms and immediately froze in place.

 _'What kind of bad dream is this?'_ is the first thought that crossed his mind upon seeing the dirty and small bedroom he was in. _'What's going on here? Why am I here? And why do I feel so... miserable?'_

Then all of a sudden, a kind of opening appeared in the air in his room and a beautiful woman stepped out of it.

The woman had pure fair skin which appeared to be shining lightly. She was wearing a kind of white battle kimono with tiny symbols and bigger floral patterns all over it. The symbols were basically small kanji of the five elements in their respective color. Her sleeves were parted at the shoulder to show some of the upper part of the arms but were attached to the dress below the armpits. The lower half of the dress ended right around the knees leaving the lower half of her legs exposed. She was wearing a pair of low heeled geta as well.

The woman was roughly 5 foot 6 inches tall and had beautiful long violet hair. The hair was straight and shining, and reached near to the back of her thighs. She had the perfect body shape along with around C sized assets which seemed to fit her body perfectly. Though in actuality, this could only be seen lightly as she was draped in her white dress. Her face was by far the most beautiful ever seen, and had a divine smile. Her eyes each had a golden iris with black pupils, and seemed very knowledgeable, but with a hint of mischief. From all perspectives, one can easily consider her a goddess.

 **"Good morning, Uzumaki Naruto-kun."** she said to the boy in a clear, melodious and divine voice.

Naruto stared wide eyed at the new figure in his room and his face turned lightly red. He snapped himself out of his trance and turned to her, "Good... morning. Who are you?" he asked her. _'I can't exactly be surprised if she turned out to be a goddess from that entry and her looks.'_

She smiled wider, mischief evident on her face now **"Me? I'm Kami-chan! Nice to meet you."** she told the boy expecting him to gape and be surprised. To her own surprise, the boy just stood there with a blank expression. Yeah, not exactly the reaction she hoped for.

 _'I was right?... Well, that was pretty awkward.'_ Naruto thought to himself. "Okay... Kami-chan, why am I here, in the apartment I used to live in when I was a kid, and why do I look like a brat? I don't remember using any kind of transformation last time I was awake."

 **"Because I sent you back in time. You are now in your five year old body."** she replied hoping to surprise him this time. She was once again let down when he just stared at her with a hint of annoyance in his face. _**'Oh come on. Why is his mental fortitude and adaptability so damn strong?'**_ she thought to herself, and began crying inwardly, but still had the same divine smile outwardly.

"Alright. So according to you, I'm back to my five year old body and am now in my childhood days again... Why exactly is that so?" Naruto asked her neutrally.

The goddess cleared her throat and started. **"You see, Naruto-kun, the past ten years and more were too boring for me to even watch over and was devoid of any excitement. So I brought you back to the past so you can go on adventures again, fight bad guys and stuff, while I watch you from my special VIP seat and eat popcorn."** she finished with a mischievous smile.

To say that Naruto was annoyed right now would be an understatement. "So you're telling me, you messed up my future peaceful life and the timeline to have some fun." he asked to confirm. The goddess nodded to him sweetly. _'What the hell?'_ was his first reaction to the ridiculousness. He shook his head and looked back at her "Then tell me, why do I feel like a miserable loser right now?"

 **"Oh that's because I sent only your and one other person's memories and knowledge back to the past. I didn't send your feelings and emotions with them. I'm sure you remember but, when you were five years old, you felt lonely and sad everyday because of those villagers ignoring your existence."** she said without flinching her smile **"Oh but of course, now that you received your memories, you can feel good like always again. I've also enchanted your young brain to be able to handle the influx of memories."**

Naruto sighed and scratched his head, "Fine. I get it... Wait, who's the other person?"

 **"Who was the person that stayed with you your entire life from your day of birth and up to the latest day?"**

Naruto breathed out and smiled, "Kurama..."

 **"Bingo! I'm glad you're quick, Naruto-kun."** she said, clasping her hands in front of herself.

Naruto sighed again and looked at her. "Fine. But what exactly do you want me to do, Kami-chan?"

 **"Oh, I don't know. Something interesting but different from your past life. Something like beating the daylights out of a strong enemy when you're still a kid or saving a damsel in distress or making a harem."** she replied without even a twitch.

Naruto frowned thoughtfully, "Wait, a harem? Why would I want something like that? I have Hinata already."

 **"I told you, didn't I? You don't have your previous emotions at the moment. If you want, try thinking of her right now."**

Naruto raised an eyebrow and thought of his wife, or his now ex-wife, or was it future wife? He replayed some of his memories with her and noticed something about himself. He felt like he was just watching some kind of movie and couldn't exactly get any feeling for them. Naruto frowned at this and turned at the goddess.

 **"See? Anyway, for now I'll also make sure she doesn't fall in love with you again... at first sight, anyways. Maybe after some time. I'll also make it so that you won't either. It would be a little too... 'canon' for my liking otherwise. So for a while, you're just gonna be friends."**

 _'Canon... Yeah. What a great word to use for my life story.'_ Naruto thought in deadpan. _'Still...'_ He glared heatedly at the woman who gave a surprised flinch. She then tilted her head in confusion.

 **"What is the matter?"**

" _What is the matter?_ " he repeated in a angry questioning tone. "The 'matter' is that I don't appreciate people tuning my head without my permission. I loved Hinata and had two children, both of them whom I loved dearly. So I'm not exactly happy that I don't feel anything for them anymore. The fact that I can't see them again is another reason to not be happy." he spoke with his glare still in place.

The divine being shrunk into herself, but she straightened herself just as quickly and kept her face blank. She then surprised Naruto by bowing to him deeply, her silky violet tresses sliding down her sides as she did so **"I** **apologize, Naruto-kun. It's just that... there are some circumstances. Please be understanding."**

Naruto stared at the goddess bowing to him with a frown on his face. He kept his eyes on her form for a few more seconds before letting out a loud exhale and shaking his head. He ran his hand through his blond locks before removing the hand and looking at it.

 _'My hair hasn't been this rough for a long time.'_ His eyes went back to the still bowed form of the goddess and groaned. Naruto himself knew that he was weak to this kind of thing, being the soft-hearted guy he is.

He walked up to the woman and gently placed his hands on her shoulders. He made a lifting motion which she followed up on and stood up straight, her face set in an expression of guilt. He turned away while rubbing the back of his neck. "Just... just forget it. It's okay."

The goddess smiled slightly and nodded. **"Thank you, Naruto-kun."** Her solemn mood then vanished in a flash before she perked up again. **"Now, enough of that stuff. The emotions can come later. I actually want to see you kick some ass in an epic fashion."** she said with a tone of slight excitement.

Naruto just sighed with a sweat-drop behind his head "Fine. I'll become stronger this time and be more awesome than ever. Oh, but do visit me from time to time, Kami-chan. You look like someone I can have a fun time with."

The goddess adopted a small teasing smile. **"Aw, you're so cute, Naruto-kun."** Naruto blushed lightly. **"But actually I don't have to even do that."**

"What? Why?" Naruto asked, confused.

The goddess just smirked, then bent down and ruffled his hair, to which Naruto blushed again mildly, while keeping his emotions and 'bodily reactions' in check. **"Because my VIP seat is actually in your own mindscape, right beside the little fox."**

Naruto looked at her with a bit of excitement. "Really? Then that means you're gonna be with me all the time!" He then blinked in confusion. _'Wait, why am I getting excited all of a sudden?... Meh, must be the younger body's residue emotions or something.'_

 **"That's right. But before I come and occupy my seat, I have some things to do. So I'll just come to your mind when I'm done. By the way, you can tell others about your situation if you want, but try to keep the group as small as possible. It wouldn't be any fun otherwise."** she got up and proceeded to walk near the newly opened warp gate. **"Well then, I'll see you again later, Naruto-kun."**

Naruto waved to her lightly. "Bye, Kami-chan. See you later."

The goddess looked back at him and gave him one last divine smile. _**'I hope he grows fast. He's gonna have such a cool look. And I'm gonna tease him to my heart's content.'**_ she giggled perversely in her mind and went into the portal, which closed shortly afterwards.

Naruto sighed and sat on his bed. _'If I wasn't an experienced ninja with a strong mind, I'd probably be jumping all over the place in panic right now.'_ he thought to himself. _'First, I need to have a talk with_ him _before doing anything else.'_ he nodded to himself and sat in the lotus position on the bed and delved into himself.

* * *

Naruto entered his mindscape and looked around. The place had changed in the years by a large margin. It was still a sewer, but it wasn't as dirty as before. Now, it looked like a newly built tunnel devoid of the water that flooded it once. It was also a tad bit brighter than before.

Naruto was about to call out to his tenant when suddenly he caught sight of a giant gate between him and his sleeping tenant, which had a paper in the centre with the kanji for 'Seal'.

 _'Right. I forgot. The seal wasn't open back then.'_ he thought. Naruto held his chin in his hand, frowned thoughtfully and then nodded to himself.

Naruto jumped up and ripped off the seal paper. He then landed, pulled up his shirt and readied his right hand, which held a blue chakra flame on each finger. His entire hand was covered in writing which collectively seemed to have the general shape of a key. He immediately put his fingers on the seal on his stomach and unlocked it. After a brief moment, the gate also swung open and vanished. _'Good thing I knew the structure of the seal and the key too. It would have been pretty annoying if I had to go to the toads' home to get the key again.'_

The giant orange furred fox now woke up and yawned loudly. He stretched and then caught sight of the blond.

 **"Yo, Naruto. What's going on? Wh-..."** the fox stopped, blinked a few times and rubbed his eyes. He then stared at the blond again. He then immediately fell on the floor, clutching his orange sides and laughing loudly. Naruto's eyebrow twitched in annoyance at the sight.

 **"HAAHAHAHAHA! What happened to you, kid? Why do you look so tiny again?"** Kurama asked him, calming down his laughter.

"Yeah yeah. Just laugh at my misery, Kurama. Now listen..." Naruto sighed and began explaining the situation to his tenant.

* * *

 **A brief explanation later...**

Kurama looked at the blond and blinked. **"What the hell?"**

"Exactly my first reaction as well. So? What do we do?"

 **"What do you mean what to do, brat? We just become strong and make you Hokage again or something even better. Anything's better than the paperwork maniac you became in your previous life.** **I was getting bored of all those years with nothing to do anyway. At least now, things will be a little more exciting."** Kurama replied with a smirk.

Naruto smirked back to him. "Well, I'm happy both of us are hot-headed." he said, but then frowned. "But hey, what do we do about the Yin half of your chakra? Dad has it, right? And he's... gone. The only way to get it back would be _that_ method."

 **"You don't have to worry about that, Naruto-kun."** a melodious voice replied from behind him.

Naruto turned back and both him and Kurama looked at the beautiful violet haired woman walking towards them. Naruto grinned at her "So you're done with your things, Kami-chan?"

The goddess smiled back at him. **"Yes** **, Naruto-kun. Now I'm ready to spend my time here. See, I even brought the popcorn."** she said holding up a few buckets of popcorn.

Naruto and Kurama both sweat-dropped. **"I didn't think you were serious about that. Anyway, what do you mean we don't have to worry about my chakra?"** Kurama asked the woman.

The violet haired goddess looked at Kurama. **"That's because I transferred the chakra Minato-kun took from you, into Naruto-kun's body, after I sent you back."**

The blond and the fox blinked at her reply "Why?/ **Why?"** they inquired in perfect unison.

The goddess just shrugged nonchalantly **"Meh, it's too much work for anyone to take it back from a dead person. You also may be forced to kill someone for that, if you know what I'm talking about."**

The two narrowed their eyes in response. They knew exactly what she was talking about. It's how the Fourth Shinobi World War even became as chaotic as it had become due to the appearance of certain people. A _lot_ of certain people.

 **"Anyway, try checking yourself, Kurama-chan."** she said, snapping the two from their thoughts as the fox raised his non-existent eyebrow.

 _ **'-chan?'**_ It wasn't everyday that someone addressed a being capable of destroying mountains and creating tsunamis with such an friendly suffix.

Naruto looked at the fox who observed his own self, then turned and nodded to Naruto. Naruto turned back to the goddess and bowed to her lightly. "Thank you, Kami-chan."

The beautiful woman shook her head, **"Don't mind it, Naruto-kun. By the way, is it alright if I redesign this place?"** she asked him gesturing at the giant gloomy sewer they were in.

Naruto looked around and shrugged, "Sure. Do as you like."

The goddess nodded and looked straight ahead. Her eyes began to glow and the entire area they were in began to fade into darkness, then a bright light shined all around them, to which Naruto and Kurama had to cover their eyes with their hand/paw. After a few moments, they felt a cool breeze pass them.

The two of them opened their eyes and gaped at the sight. They were now in the middle of a large grassy plain which was surrounded by forests and some mountains on one side, a kind of barren area on another side, a snow covered landscape and some mountains on another side and lastly a blue sea on the last side. There was also a medium sized house like structure near the edge of the forest which Naruto presumed to be for the goddess' use.

 **"Heh."** Kurama smirked and turned to the goddess **"I like you already."**

 **"Why, thank you, Kurama-chan."** she replied.

Naruto looked around and then turned back to her, and nodded. "Yep, you're a goddess alright."

The woman just chuckled and took a seat on the grass. **"Well, what are you going to do now, Naruto-kun?"** she asked as Kurama sat down shortly afterwards.

"First, I need to get my feelings in check so I don't freak out and start hugging everybody I know. Then I'll go to jii-chan's office."

 **"To Hiru-kun? Why?"** the goddess asked him. Kurama, in the meanwhile, was getting ready for another nap.

Naruto chuckled at her nickname for the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen and then continued. "I wanna see him again after all these years. I'm also gonna tell him a bit about this... situation I'm in and strike a deal with him."

 **"A deal? What do you have with you that you can use to bargain with him?"** the goddess inquired, now curious.

Naruto smirked. "I'll help him defeat the greatest enemy in his life."

The beautiful woman looked at him confusion and then realized what he was talking about. She giggled with her mouth hidden behind her hand.

Naruto got out of his mindscape and prepared to shower. He would then go meet the Hokage.

* * *

Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Third Hokage. The man known as the 'God of Shinobi' and as 'The Professor' for knowing more than a thousand jutsu. One of the longest reigning Hokage in history.

That man was now seated behind his desk in his office, glaring fiercely at the stacks of paper in front of him, willing it to burn a hole through itself. Of course, such a thing is not easy to do, if at all possible.

He then sighed and took his pipe, and lit it. He took a puff and breathed it out.

It was at this moment that a familiar blond haired boy burst into the office through the door. Hiruzen blinked at the entry and looked to the new arrival.

Naruto got up and grinned foxily at the man. "Yo, jii-chan _(grandpa)_!" Once he got a clear look at his surrogate grandfather, his look softened a little and he held back any desires to cry or hug him.

The Hokage chuckled at the boy's actions. He never failed to brighten his day. "Good morning, Naruto-kun. What brings you here today?"

Naruto took a seat and looked at his surrogate grandfather. "I actually have a very important matter to talk to you about, jii-chan." he told the man with an expressionless gaze. Hiruzen raised an eyebrow at this and the boy's tone, then nodded to continue. Naruto instead shook his head. "...Alone." he said with a serious tone and face.

Hiruzen raised his other eyebrow. He had never seen his surrogate grandson so serious before now. He assumed that something very important must have happened for him to be acting like this, and decided to hear him out. He gestured his ANBU to leave the room, which they did immediately, after which he activated the privacy seals. The room glowed blue for a split second. He then turned back to the boy in front of him.

"So, what did you want to talk to me about, Naruto-kun?" he asked the boy with an equally serious tone.

Naruto breathed out and scratched the back of his head. "Well, I don't know how to tell you this but... The me from this morning, is actually from about 35 years in the future."

The Third Hokage just blinked at the boy. "What?"

Naruto just looked at him "Yes, I'm serious. I'm from the future."

Hiruzen relaxed in his chair "Well... I must say, Naruto-kun. That's new." He took his pipe and began to take another puff.

Naruto's eye twitched "You read Icha Icha whenever your secretary isn't looking. The same Icha Icha was written by one of your famed students. Said student is a pervert, sorry, a _super_ pervert."

Hiruzen immediately coughed violently from choking on his smoke, then looked at the boy in shock.

Naruto continued "Namikaze Minato, the Fourth Hokage is my father. My mother is Uzumaki Kushina. She was the second jinchūriki of the Kyūbi after Uzumaki Mito. Both my mom and dad died on the day of my birth, trying to protect me. Dad used the **Eight Trigrams Seal** to-"

"I got it, I got it, Naruto-kun. I will believe you." Hiruzen stopped the boy with an exhausted expression. It seemed that he was on the verge of getting a heart attack from all the knowledge. He then calmed down and asked the boy "So what happened to you in the future?"

Naruto grinned and pointing to himself with his thumb "I became Hokage."

Hiruzen smiled at him and nodded "So... why are you back here then?" he asked the boy, feeling awkward that he's talking with someone from the future but looks like someone he met just a couple days ago.

Naruto sighed and explained what happened. His encounter with the goddess and what she did, while leaving out the parts concerning Kurama. He did not want to give another heart attack to the old man when he told him that he had opened the seal.

* * *

 **Another brief explanation later...**

The Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen blinked at the blond boy "What the hell?"

"Strike three." Naruto said to himself. The goddess inside him chuckled lightly.

"So you're telling me that the goddess is in your mind right now." Naruto nodded. "Can I meet her?" Hiruzen asked.

The goddess' ears perked up and waited for the reply from the blond. Naruto looked at his surrogate grandfather "No. You'll die from excessive blood loss from your nose." he replied with a straight face and a serious voice. The goddess fell on the ground laughing.

The boy's answer made Hiruzen turn to his imagination and after a second, had a slight nosebleed. He wiped his nose and looked to the boy who was wearing a face that was basically saying 'Are you freaking kidding me?'. Hiruzen waved his hand and looked back at the boy.

"Well then, why are you telling me all this?" he asked.

"It's because I want to make a deal with you, jii-chan." Naruto replied promptly. _'And for my own mental safety.'_

Hiruzen raised an eyebrow at this "What kind of deal?"

"I want you to give me an empty training ground for myself and not allow anyone else access to it. I also want you to listen to my advice regarding... certain events." Naruto told him, a little nervous about the last part.

The Hokage frowned in thought "What... events are you referring to, Naruto-kun?"

"I can't tell you that right now, jii-chan. But I will tell you before they happen."

Hiruzen thought for a moment but nodded "And what are you offering me from your side, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto smirked "The secret to defeating the greatest enemy of all Kage's..." Hiruzen looked at the boy curiously while he continued "...Paperwork."

The Hokage immediately disappeared from behind the desk and was now holding both of Naruto's shoulders with a desperate look on his face. Naruto sweat-dropped at the desperation his surrogate grandfather was showing with regards to paperwork.

"REALLY, NARUTO-KUN? YOU REALLY KNOW THE SECRET TO DEFEATING THIS DAMNED HINDRANCE?" the Hokage shouted, pointing to the stacks of paper on the desk.

Naruto smiled nervously and nodded "Y-Yes I do, jii-chan. And I can tell you. But only if you agree to the deal. I also don't want you peeping on me through that crystal ball of yours. If you do, I'll jam the vision."

"I don't mind that, Naruto-kun! I'll give you Training Ground 42. It has everything you could ever need in it and is away from the crowds as well. And I'll make sure none of my ninja go near there! Just tell me the secret to unlocking my freedom, please!" the Hokage pleaded to the boy. The goddess inside the boy was now starting to hurt from laughing non-stop for the previous few minutes.

"Alright. I'll tell you." Naruto stated. Hiruzen released the boy's shoulders and stood straight, waiting desperately for the key to his freedom.

The blond put up two fingers "Two words... **Kage Bunshin** _**(Shadow Clones)**_ _._ " **(A/N:** So it's four words. Bite me. **)**

The Third Hokage's eyes widened, but then narrowed. He slowly walked around the desk and sat on his chair. He took a deep breath and exhaled. He moved his pipe to the side and slowly removed his Kage hat and placed it to the side of the desk. He then immediately banged his head to the desk. He got up silently and banged again. He continued to bang his head to the desk multiple times while muttering 'Stupid stupid...'.

He then finally sat up straight and put his hat on his head again. "What kind of 'Professor' am I, damn it..." he grumbled, then sighed and took a puff from his pipe.

Naruto was watching all this with barely contained laughter and was now trying to calm down. The goddess had passed out from excess laughter and was now laying unconscious on the grass. Kurama, who had woken up to her laughter, was now poking her to see if she was still alive.

"A-Anyway jii-chan, do we have a deal?" Naruto asked the old Hokage whose face was now slightly red from the banging.

Hiruzen sighed and looked at the boy "Yes, Naruto-kun, we do. I thank you for your... help... as well. Training Ground 42 is now yours alone, and I will make sure it is ready by today noon."

"Thanks a lot, jii-chan. Hey can you get out of your seat for a moment?" Naruto asked as he jumped off his seat and started to walk behind the desk. Hiruzen nodded after a moment and got up from his chair. Immediately, Naruto gave him a warm hug. The older man just looked at the boy who was now holding him like he'd been gone for a long time.

"It's good to see you again, jii-chan." he said quietly. Hiruzen though heard it and smiled warmly, before returning the hug.

Naruto released him and then walked to the door, and turned back "Well then, I'll see you later, jii-chan."

Hiruzen nodded with a smile and released the privacy seals. Naruto then walked outside the door while waving back to his surrogate grandfather. Hiruzen waved back to him as he left.

Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Third Hokage sighed and looked to the dreaded paper stacks on his desk. He then formed his hand into the cross seal and three shadow clones puffed into existence. They immediately went to work with one on the seat behind the desk and the other two on the seats in front of it. The real Hokage went and sat on the couch. He pulled out his orange book and started to read it comfortably. The three ANBU that had went outside returned into the room and were promptly surprised, but went into positions immediately. The female ANBU among them growled when she saw the Hokage reading the abominable literature.

* * *

 _'Ah, life's great.'_ thought Naruto as he walked through the street. He then noticed the glare he was getting from the people all around him. He hadn't noticed this earlier because there weren't as many people on the streets back then. _'Oh right, there's still this, isn't it? I'd completely forgotten about this. I had gotten used to getting happy nods from people after I defeated Pain, I mean Nagato.'_

 _ **"Heh. Well ain't this nostalgic?"**_ Kurama spoke from inside Naruto's mind. _**"Well, if any of them pick trouble with you this time, they'll get a lot more than they bargained for."**_

 _'Well I'll just knock them unconscious and get away anyway. I don't exactly want to kill every guy that comes across me.'_ Naruto replied mentally to his fox tenant.

 _ **"Whatever. I still think it would be easier to do that than trying your hardest to avoid them."**_

 _'Just let it go, Kurama. They'll understand eventually. You remember that the villagers in the future accepted me and they knew you were helping me too.'_

 _ **"Fine fine. Do whatever you want. I'm gonna take another nap."**_

 _'Good night, fox. Oh wait, looks like there's some guy coming to pick some trouble with me already.'_ Naruto told mentally as he noticed a giant man with a saké bottle in his hands coming towards him.

 _ **"Oh? Well this is gonna be good. I can't wait to see those idiots' faces."**_ Kurama said as he smirked.

Naruto then stopped in front of the giant chubby man. The man smirked "Well well, if it ain't the demon brat. How about you come with me, huh? I'll give you some candy." he said with a stupid voice. _'From the bottom of my boot.'_

Naruto smirked with his eyes shadowed and ran from his side, then turned to run into an alleyway. The other villagers watched as the giant drunk followed the boy into the alleyway. The blond boy was standing near the dead end at the back of the alley.

"Heh. Your luck's run out, demon!" the man spat out as he swung the bottle in his hand, towards the boy.

Naruto sidestepped the attack and jumped towards the nearby wall of the narrow alley. He springboarded upwards off the wall using chakra on his feet, towards the back of the man's head who was now blinking in confusion at the spot the boy was a second ago. Naruto pumped some chakra into his hand and chopped hard at the back of the man's neck. The man's eyes rolled up and he fell forward, face down on the ground. Naruto landed on the ground and calmly walked out of the alley with his hands in his pockets like a badass (in Naruto's own opinion at least).

The people who were watching the encounter, at the entrance to the alley, stared wide-eyed at the blond and made way for him. They wouldn't dare go against him when they saw him make quick work of a man bigger than most of them. At least, not now anyway.

Naruto looked at everyone's faces as he walked away. He laughed inwardly at their reaction.

 _'How was that, Kurama?'_ Naruto asked his tenant, smiling.

 _ **"Hahahaha. That was pretty damn entertaining."**_ the fox replied as he laughed happily in the mindscape.

 _ **"I must say, Naruto-kun. Now that I read your previous memories and know what you've been through, that was indeed pretty satisfying."**_ the goddess told Naruto with the evergreen smile on her face.

 _'Heh. I always wanted to do that when I was young. Now I feel kind of refreshed.'_

 _ **"Indeed. So where to, Naruto-kun?"**_

 _'Food. The only place I can get it from in this part of my life.'_

 _ **"I see. Carry on, then. I will have a short nap."**_ the goddess said as she made herself comfortable on the grass and laid down, and instantly drifted into sleep.

 _'Why do the people in my head like to sleep so much?'_ Naruto thought to himself as he made his way to Ichiraku Ramen.

* * *

"Yo Teuchi-ojisan!" Naruto greeted, nay, shouted as he entered his favorite childhood and teenage restaurant.

Teuchi turned back to see the blond boy "Yo Naruto. Here for some breakfast, eh? You really gotta eat something else besides ramen too, you know, to balance your diet." he said while grinning at his favorite customer.

Naruto grinned back at him as he took a seat "If I do that, you guys won't get as much business from me as before."

"Well I can believe that. You sometimes eat as much ramen as four or five people combined." Teuchi replied as he turned back to prepare the broth. "So, you having the usual?"

"Yep, three bowls of miso ramen." Naruto replied as Teuchi's daughter came out from the inside and noticed Naruto sitting at the counter. She immediately ran around the counter and hugged him tightly from the side.

"G-Good morning, Ayame-chan." Naruto managed to greet as he got out of the hug.

 _ **"Oh you player you..."**_ his inner goddess giggled.

 _'Shush, you. Go back to sleep.'_

 _ **"Ok ok."**_ she said with a chuckle as she went back to sleep instantly.

"Good morning, Naruto-kun. What brings you here today?" Ayame asked as she let go of the boy and headed back behind the counter.

"Breakfast! And then I'm gonna go make some new friends today." Naruto replied excitedly. _'New... hah.'_

Teuchi and Ayame shared a worried glance as the girl turned back to the blond. "Are you gonna be okay?"

"Don't worry, Ayame-chan. I saw some interesting kids yesterday. Today I'm gonna go talk to them." Naruto told the worrying girl. _'Yep... yesterday.'_

Ayame smiled as she exhaled. "Okay, be careful. You never know what they might do to you." Naruto nodded with a smile "Alright then, here's your first bowl of miso." she said as she placed the bowl in front of him.

Naruto took it and separated the chopsticks. "Itadakima~su" he said and gorged into the bowl of ramen. "Yep, definitely my favorite food." he said in between mouthfuls. Teuchi and Ayame chuckled at him as they went back to work.

After a few minutes, Naruto finished his meal and put the money on the counter, before saying goodbye and rushed out of the restaurant.

Ayame turned to her father "Hey tō-san _(Dad)_ , he feels kind of different, doesn't he?" she asked him.

"Yeah, he feels a little different. But he's still the same kid that loves ramen and wants to be Hokage." Teuchi said with a grin.

Ayame looked at the exit and smiled "Yep, that's for sure. No other kid I know can be like him." she muttered as she took the money from the counter and went back to work.

* * *

"Hmm..."

"Troublesome. Hurry up, Chōji."

"Hmmmm..."

*sigh*

"Oh I give up, Shikamaru. I don't know what to do anymore." the plump boy named Chōji said as he moved away from the shōgi board and opened a pack of chips.

"Troublesome... Oy, you wanna play me, Ino?" the pineapple hair-styled boy named Shikamaru asked looking at the girl standing beside them.

"No way. I don't wanna play such a boring game. I can't win anyway." the girl with short platinum-blond hair shouted out.

*sigh* "Guess I'm doing some cloudgazing today then." Shikamaru said as he relaxed where he was sitting.

"Yo!" a voice shouted beside them loudly. The three of them jumped in surprise, then looked towards the source of the voice. They saw a grinning boy with spiky blond hair and sparkling blue cerulean eyes, wearing a black t-shirt and orange shorts.

"Hey! Don't sneak up on us like that." Ino shouted at the new boy.

"That's true. I almost dropped my chips." Chōji said to the blond.

"Ehehe. Sorry sorry. Hey, can I play with you guys?" Naruto asked as he looked towards Shikamaru.

"Troublesome... You know how to play shōgi?" the black haired boy asked the blond.

"Sure I do. I'm the best there is. How about a match then?" Naruto asked with a foxy grin.

"Heh. Why not? Let's see what you can do." Shikamaru said as he replaced the pieces on the board and Naruto helped. He then sat down on the side opposite Shikamaru.

"I'll give you the first move." Shikamaru said to the blond.

"Nah, you can have it. I'm still gonna beat you." The blond replied.

Shikamaru smirked and made the first move. Naruto immediately replied with his own. Shikamaru raised an eyebrow and made another move to which Naruto again made his own instantly. After two more moves along with Naruto's instant replies, Shikamaru mumbled 'Troublesome' and joined the fingertips of both his hands, with his eyes closed. He stayed like this for a while. Naruto was resting his head on his palm with his elbow on his leg and a smile on his face.

Shikamaru may be a genius and Naruto's strategist in the future, but right now he was still a five year old kid with a developing brain. He can be considered a genius within his own age group, but when comparing him with a near forty year old, who was also the leader of the entire village and one of the strongest ninja in the world, it couldn't exactly be considered a fair match.

As soon as Chōji and Ino saw Shikamaru make his so-called 'thinking pose', Chōji stopped eating and both of them stared in awe towards Naruto who was calmly watching Shikamaru think of his next options.

"Hey hey Chōji, who is this guy? He made Shikamaru get serious." Ino whispered to Chōji who was now looking at his best friend.

"I don't know. I've sometimes seen him around the park, but he's never talked to us until today." Chōji replied back in whisper.

As they watched, Shikamaru opened his eyes and made his next move. Naruto looked at the board for half a second before making his own. After three more moves and Naruto's seemingly immediate replies, Shikamaru's eye twitched and he again went into his thinking pose. After a while, Shikamaru made his move. This continued on for about twenty minutes.

Shikamaru looked at the shōgi board with his eye now twitching violently. He sighed and looked to the blond who was yawning lightly with hand in front of his mouth. He sighed again.

"I give. Man, you really are strong. I've never played anyone as strong as you except my dad, and he holds back." Shikamaru told the blond.

The blond boy smirked at his comment "What makes you think I wasn't?"

The black-haired boy's eyes widened before he made a smirk. "My name's Nara Shikamaru. I'm probably the laziest guy you'll ever meet." Shikamaru introduced himself as he extended his hand over the shōgi board.

Naruto grabbed and shook his hand "I'm Uzumaki Naruto, the most awesome guy you'll ever meet." he said with a grin, to which Shikamaru snorted in amusement.

The other two were kids who were watching the game were now gaping in disbelief at the result. They shook themselves out of their shock and looked at the blond who turned to them.

"I'm Akimichi Chōji. Shikamaru's my best friend and I like to eat." the plump boy said to the blond as he began to eat his chips again.

The girl was still mesmerized by the blond's blue eyes when he turned to her. She somehow managed to snap out of her trance and introduced herself to the boy "My name is Yamanaka Ino. I'm the one who keeps these two in line." She then bent over and whispered into the boy's ear "By the way, a word of advice. Don't call Chōji fat or he'll go berserk." Naruto just chuckled nervously in response to that bit of knowledge.

Naruto then turned to Shikamaru with a smirk "Wanna have another go?"

Shikamaru grinned in turn and began to replace the pieces again. The two of them played two more games after that, each longer than the last by a few minutes, but still ended up with Naruto winning. The blond then got up to play with the other two while Shikamaru opted to gaze at the clouds instead. The three of them played in the park until a while after noon after which Naruto decided to go.

"I'll see you guys again tomorrow. Probably in the afternoon." Naruto told them as he got up to leave.

"Really? Promise?!" Ino demanded from him as she stood in front of Naruto.

Naruto smiled warmly and nodded "I promise. I'd never lie to you, Ino-chan."

Ino smiled widely and nodded, before pulling him into a hug. Naruto's face felt somewhat warm at this gesture and was then released from the contact. Naruto shook his head and waved them goodbye before running off. Ino stared at him as he went outside the park.

"He's a cool guy, isn't he?" Chōji asked as he went and sat next to Shikamaru who was lying down and watching the clouds.

"Well, he plays shōgi damn good." Shikamaru said to his best friend.

"...Mm..." Ino muttered, still looking towards the direction the blond ran off.

"What's wrong, Ino?" the plump boy asked the girl.

"Wha-? O-Oh, i-it's nothing." the platinum-blond haired girl replied and got back to her friends, still thinking of the boy who just left. _'Those blue eyes were so pretty.'_ she thought to herself.

* * *

 _ **"You sure do know how to leave an impression, Naruto-kun."**_ the goddess spoke from inside Naruto's mind.

 _'What do you mean?'_

 _ **"I mean what you did back there."**_

 _'Huh? What did I do?'_

 _ **"..."**_

 _'Um... Kami-chan?'_

 _ **"So you're telling me you did that without even realizing."**_

 _'Like I keep asking you, what are you even talking about?'_

 _ **"...Nothing."**_

 _'Alright. Whatever.'_

 _ **'I can't believe it. This guy's a natural. Though it's not exactly shocking either.'**_ the goddess thought to herself as Naruto neared Training Ground 42. He looked to the guard who nodded to the boy.

Naruto nodded in reply and went inside. _'It's for the best if I start training from a young age. My goal for now would be to maybe become a B-Rank ninja by the time I graduate from the Ninja Academy. Better if possible.'_

 _'I'm gonna have to skip lunch today. I need to save up some money to buy some stuff.'_ Naruto thought to himself as he ran to a clearing after which he stopped. The training ground had most of his needs in it already. There were some big clearings at some spots while everywhere else was covered with trees along with a wide and deep stream passing through it. There was also a forest outside the training ground which was teeming with wild life.

Naruto stretched his limbs well and cleared any knots from his neck and fingers. He then stood straight and closed his eyes. He focused on himself, and observed his chakra flow.

 **(A/N:** Skip to next note if not interested in explanations. Leads directly to actions. **)**

Naruto realized that his chakra coils had shrunken which meant his chakra reserves were significantly smaller. That was to be expected since he was back in his young body. Continuous usage of chakra would expand the coils and he'd be in better shape again soon. Next, chakra control. In his past/future body, Naruto had refined his control well enough that he was technically capable of performing very basic Iryō Ninjutsu _(Medical Ninja Techniques)_ such as a basic diagnosis, which required near perfect control. That doesn't mean he learnt it though, it's just that it was possible in technical terms. And that was when he had giant chakra reserves. Now that he was back in his younger body, he had smaller reserves and hence his control _should_ be even better. But he still wasn't interested in Iryō Ninjutsu though.

His physical body, on the other hand, was a disaster. Even for a five year old, it was unusually slim, thanks to the lack of fresh food he was able to procure in his childhood. With some good food, he would be able to nourish himself and he could develop his body by doing exercises. He could use his experience from missions to hunt his own food and could get some books to learn about herbs and other useful stuff.

Naruto opened his eyes and took his taijutsu stance. He went through some katas with his fastest possible speed, while moving and jumping around. He understood that he _really_ needed to develop his speed and agility. It was obvious that his strength needed training as well since, at the moment, he was weaker than the past academy graduated Sakura... who was a fangirl that didn't have any physical prowess whatsoever. That sent shudders down his body and he understood his own urgency, completely forgetting that we was still a 5-year old kid.

Naruto then took a leaf from the ground and held it between his fingers. He focused intently on it and channeled his chakra through it. The leaf got a small cut at its tip. It was _very slightly_ burnt at a side, while the other side had _barely_ become damp. Naruto nodded his head at the result. He could see the signs of his primary element which was Wind, but was quite surprised when he saw the signs of his secondary affinities as well. In his past life, he had mastered all five elements but his Lightning and Earth masteries were noticeably weaker. His mastery over Wind though, was better than the best of the Land of Wind. But his younger body wasn't at all trained before. As such, he was quite surprised that his secondary affinities were already powerful enough to show signs on a leaf, not even chakra paper.

Lastly, he needed to check the speed at which he could train, which really meant how many shadow clones he could create. Since the memory and exercise experience gets sent back to the user, it was basically a dream technique to use for training, provided one had the chakra reserves for it. And along with the side effects due to Kurama's presence, he could make even more than people who had the same amount of chakra he did. Naruto checked his chakra reserves and his own control. He realized that, as he was now, he could use a maximum of 20 shadow clones. He could create more, sure. But any more than that and he wouldn't be able to train his own body. Either that or he'd collapse from chakra exhaustion.

 **(A/N:** Okay, good to go from here. **)**

Naruto thought for a few moments and nodded to himself, then seal-lessly created 20 shadow clones. They all knew their orders and got to work on them. Ten of them would work on further improving their chakra control, with five of them practicing tree walking along with spinning a leaf above each of their fingers, while the other five did the same but water walking instead. Five more clones would work on getting used to the new body by doing some reflex training for muscle memory with them sparring against each other in a light fashion. Three more would go hunting in the forests outside the training ground for some food while the last two went to the village to get some useful books. He concluded that he didn't need any nature affinity training at the moment, so he tried to spend his resources wisely.

The real Naruto opted to alternate between tree walking and water walking, since he obviously didn't have enough nutrition or energy to do any good physical exercises without collapsing from weakness. So the least he could do was try to expand his chakra coils by doing extensive chakra usage. This was because, while his clones could improve his control, the chakra coils themselves were a physical faculty and would hence need to be developed by the real body. He decided to reinforce his entire body with flowing chakra while doing the chakra control exercises so as to use more chakra and hence improve the coils more. He really couldn't test any jutsu right now since it was very risky with his young and underdeveloped body, along with the smaller chakra reserves. He already had low jōnin level chakra reserves despite being 5-years old, but he wasn't stupid enough to risk anything on it just yet.

After a few hours, the three clones that went hunting to get some food returned with five hares, along with some makeshift hunting tools made from sticks, sharp stones, long grass and leaves. In a moment, two more clones came back carrying some books. They reported to the real Naruto that they had to use **Henge** _**(Transformation)**_ to get into the library without raising any suspicion. One of the books was titled 'Plants of the Wild' which had information on some useful herbs, and their applications, along with other plants. Another book was titled 'The Apprentice Cook' which had a crash course on cooking, along with a lot of basic recipes.

Another book was titled 'General Geography' which had information regarding the current map of the elemental nations. The rest were basically tour guides on different countries. The blond needed these to re-familiarize himself with the map of the past, or present. In his time, many new villages and trading posts had been founded and the population itself had increased significantly, excluding the losses from the Fourth Shinobi War.

The two clones who just returned joined with the other three and helped to make a firepit with some stones and twigs. They came together and combined their weak fire chakra to create a small spark on the twigs, which then started to burn. They used some tips from the cook book and cooked two of the five hares they had caught. All of the clones and the original Naruto started to drool slightly at the smell, and rushed to the spot. Naruto dispelled the five tree walking clones at once, and then the water walking group. Then he dispelled the remaining ten at once. He was happy to note that he didn't feel disoriented at all from the memory rush, and proceeded to eat the cooked food.

Naruto finished his meal around five in the evening. He cleaned himself and recreated the twenty shadow clones. Ten of them went back to doing the chakra control exercises, whereas five more sat down under the shade of a tree to read the books they had.

The last five found some suitable sticks and sat down near a dirt patch. They began writing random stuff and sentences on the dirt. Naruto decided to do this because he wanted to re-practice his handwriting with his younger body, to get used to the smaller limbs and fingers. He did this because back when he was older, he had already come close to mastering the art of Fūinjutsu. This was an art both of his parents as well as his godfather were proficient in, and he had wanted to master it as well. But one of the main requirements for this art was to have clear and perfect handwriting. He should be able to write anything he wanted swiftly and accurately, without any sort of mistakes. As a result, his handwriting had become quite beautiful and he himself had created many new seals as well.

Thankfully for him, it wasn't too hard to get back his precise handwriting. From seeing the progress the five clones were making, he was sure that after a couple days of practice, he'd be able to write just like before. The real Naruto nodded and went back to continue the same exercise he did in the afternoon

As the sun set and stars were starting to appear in the sky, Naruto decided to wrap things up and dispelled his clones as he put the makeshift hunting tools on a tree branch. He gathered the books his clones had brought as well as the remaining three hares, and walked out of the training ground, back to his apartment.

* * *

After Naruto got back to his apartment, he took a quick shower and then followed the instructions in the cook book as he tried to make a dish using the three hares. After he finished, he got a glass of water and went to the table. He then nervously started to eat his first ever dish besides ramen (in this timeline, at least). He was glad to note that it tasted okay, more so than the meal he had in the training ground, but knew that it was still below normal grades. He would have to practice cooking more, in order to be able to make delicious dishes.

After his meal, he washed the dishes and came back to the room. He made four shadow clones and told them to finish reading the books, and dispel themselves after they were finished. He then went to relieve himself and then went to bed. He made himself comfortable on the not-at-all comfortable bed and drifted off into sleep, while his consciousness went into his mindscape.

It was also night-time in the mindscape where Naruto saw Kurama sleeping beside a tree, but noticed that the goddess was nowhere in sight, and the lights of the house in his mindscape were turned off. Naruto shrugged and lay down on a nice spot on the grass, and looked up at the stars.

"Today had been a pretty productive day. I got my own training ground, I became friends with Shika and the others, I learned to cook, I learned about new plants and got in some training. This was one of the most satisfying days I've had in a long time." Naruto said silently to himself.

 **"I would say so as well, Naruto-kun."** a voice came from behind him.

The goddess walked near him and laid down on the ground right next to the young blond boy. **"You even managed to entertain me on the very first day of my vacation."** she said to him, smiling.

"Vacation, eh?" Naruto asked with a foxy grin and laughed heartily. He calmed down and looked to the goddess who was laying on her side, watching the boy from just half a foot away from his face. Naruto blushed at her closeness and turned back to look at the stars, while the goddess chuckled silently. After calming himself, Naruto looked back at her with a warm smile on his face.

"Kami-chan... Thank you." he said to her. The goddess made a confused face and just stared at him.

"Now that I'm back, I hope I can save some of my loved ones from dying early." he said to her with determination in his eyes and a smile on his face.

The goddess understood his thoughts and smiled warmly. She gave him a loving hug, and replied **"You're welcome, Naruto-kun."** Naruto smiled in reply.

After a while, she got an idea and put on a teasing smile. **"So... do you like this?"** she asked the boy who nodded absentmindedly with a smile, while watching the many colorful stars.

Her smile evolved into a grin **"So then do you want to have some** _ **fun**_ **with me, Na-ru-to-kun?"** she whispered seductively into his ear.

Naruto turned his head to look at her golden eyes with his blue eyes. After a split second of confusion, he realized what she was talking about. His face then gained a bright shade of red as the goddess looked at him with an amused face, then laughed.

Naruto looked away from her with a red face "I-If you do anything to a kid like me, I'm gonna call you Ero-Megami _(Pervert Goddess)_ for the rest of my life."

The goddess chuckled and looked at him as he turned back **"Yes yes. I apologize, Naruto-kun. But then do you mean that I can play with you after you grow up?"**

Naruto blushed once again and turned his head to the side away from her "W-Whatever. Good night, Kami-chan."

The violet-haired goddess turned to lay on her back and closed her eyes, with a smile on her face **"Good night, Naruto-kun."**

* * *

Naruto woke up at around seven the next morning and brushed his teeth. He then went out for a jog around the neighborhood. Since he already knew of his ridiculous stamina, he picked up the pace after each lap to make himself as tired as possible. After about thirty laps around the small neighborhood, he re-entered his apartment at half past eight and went to have a thorough shower, while ignoring the low temperature of the water.

After he came out of the shower, he noticed that the clones he had left last night had neatly placed the books on the table. He checked his memories and nodded to himself. He made two shadow clones who then **Henge** 'd themselves into the forms they used to get into the library, after which he told them to return the books while he gave them some coins. They nodded and walked out of the apartment.

Naruto then used his new knowledge to quickly whip up a salad using some ingredients which were lying in his refrigerator. The salad was _slightly_ better than his previous dish and vowed to practice some more when he got some money to buy new ingredients. He put on his white t-shirt and black shorts and left his apartment, then went straight to Training Ground 42.

After reaching there, he checked himself for a moment then made thirty shadow clones, ten more than the previous day, thanks to his extensive training. The two clones from earlier had already dispelled by this time.

They all nodded to him and got to their own work. Five of them took to tree walking with spinning a leaf above each finger, while five more took to doing the same while water walking. Five more clones decided to focus solely on the leaf concentration exercise, by spinning two and gradually three leaves on each of their fingers. Naruto had noticed the previous day that his chakra control wasn't as good as he thought it would be, but was instead as good as a mid-level chūnin's. He didn't understand why it was like that but just decided to forget about it and train his chakra control as usual anyway.

Five more clones continued to refine their handwriting, now practicing with pencils on some empty notebooks he had found in his apartment. Eight of the remaining ten clones went to the middle of the clearing and started to practice taijutsu, while the last two got the hunting tools from the tree branch and went to get some food for lunch. It would be a while until he would be able to practice ninjutsu without any extreme risks.

The real Naruto was readying himself to do some vigorous physical exercises. Thanks to him getting a mixed diet the previous day and some vegetables today morning, he had gained some good nutrition in his body. Kurama had already started working on multiplying it with as much efficiency as possible, and improved his body. Naruto's body now looked similar to a normal five year old's, at last.

Naruto tied some thick heavy pieces of wood to his forearms and his lower legs using some bandages, substituting them as weights for the time being. He then started to run around the training ground with increasing speed working up a good sweat. He later joined the taijutsu group, to not fall back on developing his battle senses. His instincts were honed from many years of battle already and were practically a sixth sense, but his young body's senses still needed to be improved.

The young blond stopped his training around one in the afternoon. He briefly cooked and ate the two hares his clones had managed to catch. He removed his weights and rotated his arms to remove cramps. He then dispelled and recreated the thirty clones, to gain their knowledge and told them to keep working, and allowed them to switch with other groups if they wanted. He went out of the training ground to meet his friends, as he had promised the previous day.

* * *

"Yo all. Having fun?" he greeted Shikamaru, Chōji and Ino who were cloudgazing, eating and shouting respectively.

All three of them turned to the blond. Ino's face lit up in happiness, then jumped towards him and hugged him tightly. She then let go of him and greeted him back.

"You're here! I was wondering when you'd show up!" Ino said to him happily.

"Hehehe. Well I was a little busy in the morning, so I'm here now!" Naruto replied with a foxy grin. He then greeted Chōji who greeted him back, then turned to Shikamaru.

"Yo Shika. Did you get any better in shōgi?" he asked the pineapple hair-styled boy with a smirk.

Shikamaru smirked back "Troublesome... Why don't we find out?" he challenged as he prepared the shōgi board and the pieces. Naruto helped him, then sat to play a few games with him. He then proceeded to wipe the floor with his opponent four times, with every match lasting two to four minutes longer than the last with Shikamaru making his thinking pose five to six times every match. Naruto then got up to talk and play with the other two for a while until it was time for the trio to go home. Ino gave him another hug and then left, as he waved back to them.

 _'Weird. Ino's never hugged me that much before. Scratch that, she's never even touched me much before.'_ Naruto thought as he left the park to head for the training ground.

 _ **"You can't be serious, can you?"**_ the goddess asked him in disbelief.

 _'Yeah. She's never been that close to me until today.'_

 _ **"No not that. I mean..."**_

 _'Well whatever. Maybe she likes me a bit now, since she hasn't met Sasuke-teme yet.'_

 _ **"Hmm... That**_ **is** _ **a convincing theory."**_ the goddess replied _**'At least he's not totally dense.'**_ she thought to herself and sighed inwardly in relief.

 _'I can probably become good friends with the three of them at this rate. Anyway, I gotta go train now.'_ Naruto said to his divine tenant as he ran back to the training ground.

* * *

Naruto returned to the training ground to see that some of the clones had dispelled, possibly due to using up their chakra. A quick glance at his memories indeed revealed that to be the case. He dispelled all of the remaining clones except the hunting pair and recreated them. All of them resumed their work while Naruto got ready to do some running and sparring again. With the amount of time he had until nightfall, he managed to get in some chakra control exercises as well, which helped to further expand his reserves.

Naruto then went home and cooked the day's catch and ate it, which still needed improvement. He then took a quick shower, cursing the cold water and went to bed, at eleven in the night.

The next few days were basically the same process repeated. Naruto wakes at around seven, goes for a jog, eats some meal he made from the herbs he found in the forest or leftovers from the previous night, goes to train until afternoon, has lunch made from caught hares and rabbits, meets and plays with Shika, Chōji and Ino, trains some more in the evening, eats a home cooked meal using the herbs and catch from the day and goes to sleep.

This continued for a while until one day when he came to the park a little early than usual and stumbled into an interesting situation.

Three boys around the age of eight were surrounding a scared girl who had very familiar pink hair...

* * *

 **A/N:** So, what do you think?

Personally, I love strong MC's and I would like to put them in everywhere. But that wouldn't be interesting. What I tried to do here is put in a good strong MC, but make him stronger gradually as time passes. Future events and power levels will be left to the future planning organization in my brain, or if that fails, will be passed to the ad-lib section instead.

For some reason, I found the training parts of most fanfiction very interesting. I don't know if anyone else is the same, but I put in a needlessly detailed training part. I also put in some useless tiny details too (I have no idea why), like the hunting tools or his activities. Meh, who cares. More words.

Info for new readers: My current update schedule for this story has me at two chapters per month, but I'm trying to improve that. Hopefully, once my exams are over, I can put a little more effort.

Thank you for reading my work. If you have any comments or questions, you can leave them below in the **REVIEW**. Seriously, it helps us a lot more than you think.


	2. Seals and Siblings

**Author's Note (A/N):** Hello again people! First of all, thank you very much for the 1k+ views and 16 reviews of chapter 1. Honestly I didn't think it was that good, what with the mood being all over the place which is the case in this chapter as well. Sorry about that. The only way to fix that is experience, which I don't have yet.

Now I really recommend that you people read the first chapter one more time. I made some tiny changes here and there and it would be best if you read it. At least to remember the plot again after these weeks. One main change is that I removed the waterfall from the training ground. No matter what anyone says, that would be too damn convenient even for me.

Next, I will be putting a good number of Original Characters (OC's) in my story and _might_ also put them as a main (very small probability). This includes changing some existing characters to better suit my tastes. I'm actually referring to the matriarchs of the Ino-Shika-Cho clans, and Sakura's mom. I didn't like them in canon so this is what I got.

Now, on to the story!

 **Disclaimer:** I'm too far away from Japan to own anything related to Naruto, so I don't.

* * *

Chapter 2: Seals and Siblings

Naruto hid near the entrance to the park trying to understand what was going on in the sand pit. Three boys who seemed a few years older than him were standing around a single girl who was cowering in fear.

He then saw another girl in front of the scared girl, who seemed like she was defending the one behind her. With some focus, he found out that it was actually Ino. Naruto moved in for a better view and finally saw the pink hair the other girl had. His eyes widened and then a smirk formed on his face.

"Get out of the way, blondie. We got some business with forehead over there." said the boy in the middle, seemingly the leader of the three.

"No, go away. I won't let you hurt Sakura." Ino said trying to defend her friend, all the while shaking in fear herself.

"Hah! As if you can stop us, girl. We're from the ninja academy and you're just kids." another boy on the side said. He then pushed Ino away, who fell on the ground rather harshly. They didn't realize what they were getting into until that happened.

Immediately, the park was flooded with Killing Intent and became eerily quiet. The three boys were sweating considerably at the moment and were on the verge of losing their breath. The girls though didn't feel much of anything and watched with confusion the boys who were bullying them a second ago.

"Oi"

The boys flinched and turned shakily towards the voice behind them, and regretted that they did so.

Behind them was a blond boy shorter than them and a few years younger as well. But what he lacked in size and age, he had with his presence. His face clearly showed barely contained anger towards them with a twitching eye but had a calm expression, making the silent rage even more profound along with his ice cold blue eyes with slit pupils, looking at each of them like he was about to pounce on them. His hands were twitching as if holding himself back to not kill them accidentally.

The bullies, for their part, fell on their butts and emptied their bladders. The young boy's face turned to disgust along with the anger he was holding in.

"Get lost." the blond said with narrowed eyes. The three boys didn't need any more initiative as they took off towards the exit, rolling and tumbling along the way.

The two girls stared in awe at their savior who was looking at the exit. He had just driven off three boys, all older than them, without even lifting a finger.

Suddenly, whatever heavy mood was in the air lifted and the blond turned to the girls with a foxy grin on his face. "Yo Ino-chan!"

Ino though jumped on him and he fell on the ground with her in tow. The platinum-blonde haired girl held him tightly in her arms, not letting go. "Arigatō, Naruto... Arigatō..." she muttered with closed teary eyes. Naruto smiled and rubbed her back gently, calming her down.

After a minute or two, Ino got up and rubbed her eyes. She then turned to the pink-head, who was sitting on the ground watching them, and grinned. Naruto also got up and dusted himself off.

"Naruto, this girl is my best friend, Sakura." Ino gestured to the pink-head, and then towards the bright blond "And Sakura, this is Naruto."

"Yo! My name's Uzumaki Naruto. Nice to meet you." he greeted as he extended his hand towards her.

The shy pink-head took the hand slowly "I'm... Haruno Sakura... Nice to meet you too..." she greeted back as the blond pulled her up from the ground.

Naruto gave her a grin and then turned to the other girl "Ino-chan, what were those guys doing here?"

Ino's face saddened and she put a hand on Sakura's shoulder "Those boys come here sometimes and bully on us. Well, mostly Sakura, because of her wide forehead and shyness."

 _'That's it? They bully her just for that? And they call themselves ninja academy students, pff. If kids like that become ninja, they'd be a nuisance to society.'_ he turned to the downtrodden pink-head. "Don't worry about it, Sakura-chan! Those guys are just idiots. If you have a big forehead, then that means you have a big head, then that means you're really really smart!" he told her with a happy grin.

Sakura looked up at him with a kind of puzzled expression "Really?"

"Of course! Very smart people have bigger heads, then you must be too!"

The pink head's face lit up with happiness and nodded vigorously.

He gave her a foxy grin and turned back to Ino, who was looking at them with a surprised face. "By the way Ino-chan, where are Shika and Chōji?"

Ino shook herself out of her thoughts and looked back at Naruto "O-Oh, they're not coming today. Their clans have a meeting so they're a bit busy. I didn't have any work today so I came here to play with Sakura."

Naruto shrugged "Well it's ok. They'll be back tomorrow. Anyway, why don't we play for a while then?"

The three of them nodded happily and played in the park for a while. Sakura chatted happily with Naruto, while Ino was pleasantly surprised that Sakura opened up to someone else so quickly. When it was nearing half past three in the afternoon, they were all a little tired and sat down at the bench.

While the two girls were talking to each other, Naruto appeared to be thinking about something. The two girls turned and looked at him confused.

"What's wrong, Naruto?"

Naruto smiled and turned to Sakura "Sakura-chan, I want you to come here tomorrow in the afternoon at around two."

Sakura frowned slightly "Why?"

The blond boy smirked "I know a way to prove you're smart."

Both the girls tilted their heads while Naruto got off the bench. "Well then, I'll see you two again tomorrow." he said and ran off while waving goodbye before the two could say anything.

They just stared at his back as he ran off "I wonder why he left so early today." Ino thought out loud.

After a few minutes, four people came rushing into the park and looked around until they found the two girls. The four dashed towards them and hugged them immediately. The girls realized after a second that they were being hugged by their parents.

"Ino-chan/Sakura-chan!" the four of them shouted.

"Wh-What's wrong, otō-san, okā-san _(mom)_?" Ino asked her parents.

"I heard some people saying that you and Sakura-chan were being bullied in the park. So we came here." Inoichi said, letting go of her.

"So, where are they, Sakura-chan? Where are those boys that dared to bully my daughter?" Chiharu asked angrily, looking around.

Haruno Chiharu was a petite woman with pink hair in a round bob cut. She had a cute face with dark green eyes and was known for two things. One was her impressive patience and self-control. The other was the moments when she would lose said control and destroy people's ears with her voice when she was angry. She was also one of the members of the civilian side of the council and the mother of Sakura.

"Otō-san, they're gone. Our friend chased them away already over an hour ago." Ino replied to her father. The four parents looked at the two girls skeptically.

"Really? Who is that friend?" Mana asked her daughter.

Yamanaka Mana was a beautiful woman with long silky brown hair which reached just above her thighs. She would usually let it hang free while one of the long bangs would cover her right eye. Her eyes were a light blue and almost always had a glint of playfulness in them. She was a retired jōnin kunoichi who was famous for her combination of sensory and trap setting skills, a deadly combination if any. Unknown to people outside her family, she had a bit of a perverted side which led to amusing situations sometimes. She was the matriarch of the Yamanaka family and the mother of Ino.

Ino grinned brightly "He's a kid that me, Shikamaru and Chōji met a few days ago and Sakura met today. His name is Naruto."

The four adults frowned slightly "What does he look like?"

"Well, he has blond spiky hair and pretty blue eyes. He also has some kind of whisker marks on his face." she replied happily _'I think they look cute though.'_

The parents' eyes widened as they recognized who their daughters were talking about. They were even more surprised when they saw Ino grin happily and even Sakura smile. All of them knew that Sakura was very shy and doesn't open herself up to people easily.

"What... did he do to those bullies?" Chiharu mother asked nervously.

"I don't know actually. He just called them from behind and when they looked back, they just fell down and their pants became wet. He told them to get lost and they just ran away as fast as they could."

Inoichi raised an eyebrow "Did you see anything else?"

"No nothing. But now that you mention it, I felt that the air back then was kind of... heavy, I think."

Inoichi and Mana's eyes widened at the revelation _'Killing Intent? Such a young boy used killing intent to drive them away? And he was careful not to affect the girls either...'_ Inoichi thought and then frowned _'Something's not right. No normal five year old should be able to do that.'_

"He comes to play with us every day in the afternoon. He has some matches of shōgi with Shikamaru and plays with me and Chōji too." Ino continued, snapping Inoichi from his thoughts. He smiled at her and patted her head.

"Well, I guess I have to thank him for saving my precious daughter."

Inoichi released her as Mana hugged her again. Meanwhile, Chiharu and her husband Kizashi were making sure their daughter was safe and unharmed. Sakura thought for a moment then turned to her parents "Otō-san, okā-san, is it okay if I come here again tomorrow?"

The parents glanced at each other then back to Sakura "Alright dear. You can come."

Sakura smiled, then said goodbye to Ino and left with her parents. Ino and her parents also left the park soon after. Inoichi though was in thought _'Last time I saw the boy, he was just roaming around the village with nothing on his mind after getting kicked out of a store. Hmm... I should meet the lad again some time. I hope_ that _doesn't have anything to do with this.'_

* * *

 _'Phew. Managed to get away just before they came.'_ Naruto thought to himself, wiping away some imaginary sweat.

 _ **"Why did you do that anyway?"**_ asked the confused goddess in his mind.

 _'I sensed Inoichi-san coming there. You see, he works in the Torture & Interrogation department. He's also the best mind reader Konoha has. And if he sees me acting _this _different in only a week, he'd probably know something is going on and do things that I don't exactly need right now.'_ he clarified to her.

 _ **"Ooh. So that's why you did that."**_ she said in a bored tone. Naruto raised an eyebrow at her voice.

 _'Kami-chan? What's wrong? Did something happen?'_

The goddess yawned and rubbed her eyes _**"Hm? Oh, no. Nothing's wrong, Naruto-kun. It's just that the last few days have been pretty boring with the repetitive schedule of yours. I'm actually surprised that Kurama-chan managed to keep quiet all this time."**_ she looked around for the fox and sweat-dropped upon finding him.

Said giant fox was currently climbing one of the mountains in the mindscape to relieve himself of his boredom.

 _ **"On second thought, I take that back. Maybe I should climb a mountain too."**_

Kurama just snorted at them _**"It's not a big deal. People get used to it after spending about four decades in a sewer. Right now, I'm actually pumped up get to the top of this thing. It's been more than a century since I was freely exposed to nature, except the times the kid let me out for a while to enjoy myself. When he does though, it's always in the weirdest places. Once he released me on the moon then told me write something on it. What the hell, kid?"**_

The goddess' eyes gleamed for some unknown reason and she immediately ran towards one of the nearby mountains. Naruto sweat-dropped at the two entities in his mind and shook his head. _'I never will understand the thinking of bijū and goddesses.'_ He then decided to go Ichiraku's to grab ramen after so long and then back to training.

* * *

The next day, Ino brought Sakura to the park to meet the three boys. After the introductions, Naruto asked Sakura to play a match of shōgi with Shikamaru. Though reluctant at first, she relented and played a match. The match lasted nearly an hour and needless to say, Shikamaru was fairly motivated as well. Ultimately, it ended with Shikamaru's victory who was understandably happy that he finally won a match after so many days. Sakura was a little bitter at her loss but cheered up with Naruto's help. Later, they all played around the park except Shikamaru who opted to cloudgaze instead.

This continued for about four days until Naruto remembered a certain detail of his past.

The next morning, Naruto got up and finished his morning jog and shower, quickly ate a cup of instant ramen and dashed off to his personal training ground. Upon reaching there, he created 40 shadow clones and put them to work with refining his chakra control, calligraphy, hunting and sparring to readjust his taijutsu to his younger body. After they settled into their tasks, the original Naruto rushed off to the Hokage tower.

Upon reaching his destination at around ten in the morning, Naruto walked up to the secretary and asked for an appointment with the Hokage. The woman behind the desk raised an eyebrow at the young boy's newfound manners, who instead usually burst into the Hokage's office without taking shit from anyone. She got out of her thoughts and nodded to the young blond, then went away to talk to their village leader.

Naruto was also moderately fond of the short-brown haired woman since she was one of the people who didn't care about his tenant and instead treated him like a normal person, not too familiar with him but definitely didn't hate him.

The secretary woman came back and told the blond that he can visit now. Naruto thanked and bowed to her, then walked to the office. The woman was now fairly shocked that the usually disrespectful blond actually bowed to her and thanked her. She went to back to her desk in a slight daze and got back to her work.

Naruto opened the door to the office and saw his grandfather figure behind the desk with a few short stacks of paper on it. Hiruzen saw his surrogate grandson enter the office and smiled.

"Good morning, Naruto-kun. What brings you here today? And how come you're actually entering in a normal way?" the old Hokage greeted and asked the blond. The blond chuckled and took a seat, then faced him.

"Good morning, jii-chan. I actually came here to ask for the weekly allowance you used to give me. As for my way of entering, well, I just wanted to stop being a nuisance to some people. Especially the secretary lady, the ANBU here and you. Though if you want, I'll find some other way of entering dramatically." he said to his grandfather figure who chuckled in response, then took out two envelopes from a drawer and placed them in front of the blond.

"That is fine. Here is your allowance for this week as well as last week's. Though I must say, I'm surprised that you forgot about it. Are you eating well, Naruto-kun?" he asked in a worried tone.

Naruto grinned then got down from the seat and stood straight. "I'm fine, jii-chan. I actually hunt my own food in the forest around my _place_. I eat something besides ramen now too! See? I think I've grown taller an inch or two."

The old Hokage looked at the blond with a calculating look, then smiled and shook his head. Naruto's face turned into one of horror, then got back to his seat with fake dejection and took the two envelopes.

"I am happy with that, Naruto-kun. A balanced diet is important for a healthy body." Hiruzen said and got back to his paperwork. Naruto looked at him with a confused face then voiced his thoughts.

"Hey jii-chan, why aren't you using **Kage Bunshin** for the paperwork?" he asked.

The old man just sighed in reply "Well you see, I did use them for the first few days. But then, they just got fed up of it and dispelled themselves."

Naruto looked at the old Hokage with a deadpan look "Let me guess. You put your clones to work while you read your porn, is that right?"

The Third coughed loudly with a tinge of pink on his face while the three ANBU in the room snickered audibly. The goddess in Naruto's mind also laughed lightly. "W-Well, something like that."

The blond sighed and shook his head. "Jii-chan, you have to treat them with more respect. If you want them to help you, then you have to help them as well. You can't just dump your work on them and enjoy yourself." he said, while the Hokage hung his head slightly. The others were quite amused that their village leader was getting lectured by a five year old.

"Anyway, are you free today jii-chan? I want you to come with me for some shopping. Those guys don't let me buy anything and I'm pretty tired of using **Henge** all the time." Naruto said while his surrogate grandfather looked confused. Naruto then pointed to his stomach and the old Hokage realized what he was talking about. He frowned, but then shook his head.

"I see. But I'm sorry, Naruto-kun. I have to finish all this paperwork first." he said. Naruto looked at him blankly, then put his palm to his face and shook his head. Hiruzen blinked once and looked around to see the others doing the same thing. He blinked again then realized.

He facepalmed himself then nodded and got up from his chair, and walked towards the door while Naruto followed. The old Hokage turned and made a cross seal and summoned three clones. The original then bowed to them. All the others looked at the awkward sight of the Third Hokage bowing to three more Third Hokage's, then left. The secretary was about to say something when she came near the two, but Hiruzen pointed into the office. She saw the three clones working inside the office then turned back to the two. Hiruzen continued to walk while Naruto waved back at her. The brown-haired woman looked back to the office, then shrugged and waved back to the blond with a smile.

* * *

"So what exactly did you need to buy, Naruto-kun?" Sarutobi Hiruzen asked his surrogate grandson, while both walked through the streets of Konoha.

"A lot of stuff actually. Training equipment, cooking utensils, ingredients, fūinjutsu supplies and some other stuff." Naruto replied while Hiruzen nodded for each item in the list, until he heard the last one. He snapped his head to the blond with a surprised expression.

"You know fūinjutsu, Naruto-kun?"

"Yeah, I do. I know a lot of formulas too. Probably even more than Ero-... I mean Jiraiya. But with my handwriting being what it is right now, I can only use the lower grade ones that aren't too dangerous. I'll have to wait until I get my calligraphy perfect before I can use the better ones." the blond replied.

The old Hokage turned forward and smiled _'It seems the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.'_

The two reached their destination which was a ninja shop which looked mediocre in all aspects. Hiruzen frowned and turned to the young boy, then stopped him before he entered the store. Naruto looked at his grandfather figure with a puzzled face while Hiruzen shook his head.

"While I am happy that you are not spoilt with a life of luxury, Naruto-kun, I have a better idea. Follow me." he said and walked off while Naruto looked at him then shrugged and followed behind him.

They both walked for a few minutes while Hiruzen observed the occasional glare sent at the young blond, who did not even notice them or ignored them. Hiruzen speculated that most people were behaving themselves only because he was there at the moment. Eventually, they reached the store which looked like a normal ninja shop named 'Shirobuki Ninja Tools', but Hiruzen assured Naruto that the shop was anything but normal.

They entered the store and immediately Naruto raised his eyebrows in surprise. The shop consisted of numerous aisles, many of them filled with weapons of different shapes and sizes. There were seemingly countless weapons there and Naruto's thoughts went to a certain weapon crazed girl he knew of. Some other aisles consisted of paper tags and scrolls, while another one was dedicated to shuriken and kunai. He also managed to spot some clothes hangers at the far end which he assumed to be the clothing part of the shop.

He returned his attention to his grandfather who was walking up to the counter and followed behind him.

"Good morning, Shigure-san." Hiruzen greeted the bored man behind the counter.

The now named man, Shigure looked up from the counter and instantly straightened himself and brightened up "Oh! Good morning, Hokage-sama. Good to see you. What brings you here today?"

Shigure was a fairly tall man with a well built body and light brown skin. He was wearing what looked like a black sleeveless china traditional shirt and tan pants. He also had red bracers on his wrists and was wearing a pair of geta. He had spiky brown hair which was neatly kept, along with a stern looking face, but was smiling at the moment.

The Third Hokage nodded and gestured to the young blond boy who was viewing the weapons on a nearby shelf. "We are here today to get some training equipment for Naruto-kun here."

Shigure looked at the boy and widened his eyes, then turned back to the Hokage "Hokage-sama. Naruto... is he Minato's...?" he asked in an unsure tone while the old Hokage nodded in affirmation. Shigure calmed himself down while Hiruzen called Naruto over.

"Naruto-kun, this man is Shirobuki Shigure. He is the owner of what I believe to be the best ninja store in Konoha." Hiruzen introduced the man, while said man rubbed the back of his head in response to the praise. The man offered an extended hand to the blond.

"Good to see ya, kid. My name's Shigure." he said, while the blond took and shook his hand with his own tiny one.

"Nice to meet you, Shigure-san. My name is Uzumaki Naruto." he greeted in response.

The Hokage cleared his throat and turned to Naruto "Naruto-kun, from now onwards, you can buy anything you want from here. This place has a range of weapons, tools, scrolls and shinobi clothes." he said and the boy nodded. The blond then turned back to Shigure.

"Shigure-san, I need some practice shuriken and kunai, along with some durable clothes for training. By any chance, if you have any training weights for someone my age, I would also like a set of those. I also need some basic fūinjutsu supplies." Naruto said to the owner of the store. Shigure though just stared slack-jawed at the blond before turning and looking at the Hokage who was watching the man with an amused expression.

"Hokage-sama... I thought the kid was five years old?"

Hiruzen smirked in amusement "Yes. Yes he is... So?"

"So? So, I mean... I..." the man then sighed and went towards one of the racks of weapons "Fine. I'll get those items. You just wait there."

Naruto turned to his grandfather in confusion, while said grandfather was chuckling.

After a few minutes, Shigure came back with two small boxes and one bigger box. He put them on the counter and turned to the blond. "Alright kid. These two smaller boxes have the practice kunai and shuriken with 10 kunai and 20 shuriken. The bigger box has the fūinjutsu supplies, which is actually ten bottles of chakra conductive ink, three brushes and a whole lot of paper. We have better quality ink and brushes, but I ain't gonna sell them to you until you get better with fūinjutsu, you got all that?" Shigure asked, expecting the boy to get a head ache from all the information. But he was pleasantly surprised when the boy just nodded to him without asking a question. He turned to the Hokage who just shrugged his shoulders, then turned back to the blond.

"The chakra ink is for novices really. A true fūinjutsu master can create a seal anywhere, anytime. Even from thin air. Though there aren't many people like that anymore. I don't think even Jiraiya-sama can do that. But I could be wrong. Anyways, we have some clothes which are suitable for training, but we don't have any that can fit you, what with you being a kid and all. So you can come back and get one when you grow up a bit, alright kid?" he asked. Naruto's eyebrow twitched but he nodded regardless.

"Alright. Practice kunai and shuriken cost 1000 ryo a box each. Ten bottles of basic chakra ink cost 10000 ryo, three brushes for 1500 ryo and two hundred sheets of paper for 500 ryo. So, total price is 14000 ryo." Shigure said tallying the price behind the counter.

Naruto frowned at that and reached for his pocket, but Hiruzen put a hand on the boy's shoulder and shook his head. "I'll pay for you this once, Naruto-kun. Consider it a gift from me." he said and Naruto hesitantly nodded. He knew he couldn't win an argument his jii-chan at the moment, so he just relented.

Hiruzen paid for the items and took the bigger box, while giving the smaller two to Naruto. Naruto bowed to Shigure, who nodded his head, and then walked out of the store.

"You can shop there from now on, Naruto-kun. He's one of the men that I trust who wouldn't judge you by your tenant." the old Hokage said to the blond, who smiled and nodded. He then looked around and went into a nearby alley. Hiruzen followed the boy into the alley out of curiosity.

Once there, Naruto looked around again and two shadow clones puffed into existence without any warning. Hiruzen blinked in surprise at his surrogate grandson's mastery over the technique. The two clones then **Henge** 'd themselves into two random people. Naruto told them to take the boxes back home, as they nodded and took the three boxes, then walked off. Hiruzen smiled at the blond's ingenuity as the two walked out of the alley.

The two walked to a cooking store where they bought some kitchen tools then visited a general store to get some other essentials, this time paying with his own money. Naruto made another clone and told him to take the stuff back home as well. The two then continued to walk towards the market to get the cooking ingredients the blond said he needed.

* * *

While walking, the blond wanted to clear a certain doubt that he had in mind.

 _'Kami-chan?'_

The goddess was sitting on her bed in her house in Naruto's mindscape, brushing her silky violet hair. She twitched suddenly at Naruto's voice, but continued to brush her hair.

 _ **"Hm? What is it, Naruto-kun?"**_

 _'I wanted to ask something, Kami-chan.'_

The goddess raised an eyebrow but nodded _**"What do you need to ask?"**_

 _'I... wanted to ask if it's okay to live a completely different life than before. I mean, is it okay if I start making major changes from my original life?'_

The violet-haired goddess smiled and shook her head at her host's worries _**"It's alright, Naruto-kun. You don't have to worry about anything happening if you do something very different. I mean you've already made many changes than before already, haven't you? You've befriended Ino-chan and her friends and also told Hiru-kun your secret."**_

The blond nodded hesitantly while he and Hiruzen were still walking.

The woman smiled, and put the brush down. She put on a silver clip on her hair just above the left side of her face. _**"I'm really serious, Naruto-kun. You need to stop thinking of this as a replay of your previous life. It isn't a thing like that. This... is in fact a second chance for life to you. You can live however you want without caring for any non-existent laws, Naruto-kun."**_

Naruto smiled at her assurance and thanked her _'Arigatō, Kami-chan.'_

 _ **"I don't mind, Naruto-kun. I don't mind."**_ the goddess said, while the blond nodded. The goddess then smiled brightly as she got out of the house _**'He thinks that I didn't notice it, but in fact I did. Even though he's given so much freedom, he was still making sure that he doesn't create any problems for me by doing anything unnecessary. Even after everything, he still wants to keep other people's wishes before his own.'**_ she thought as she walked off into the fields.

Naruto took a deep breath, then turned to his surrogate grandfather. "Jii-chan, I have a favor to ask."

Hiruzen turned to his surrogate grandson with curiosity "What is it, Naruto-kun?"

"I... want to meet Jiraiya, jii-chan. Jiraiya of the Sannin. Your student." he said with some uncertainty in his voice.

The old Hokage raised an eyebrow "Why?"

Naruto looked down sadly "Because..." he paused once, then continued "Bad things happen in the future, jii-chan. To you... and to him."

The old man widened his eyes, then looked forward again "When do you want to meet him?"

The blond sighed and looked forward as well "After an year, I guess. Preferably, my next birthday. The only reason I told you now is because I know he's always busy with his spy network, so I wanted to make an... appointment of sorts."

Hiruzen exhaled and looked at the bright afternoon sky "I understand. I will contact him and ask him to return on that day then."

Naruto nodded and continued to walk. He then caught sight of a restaurant on the way and drooled uncontrollably. The old Hokage chuckled and led him there to get some lunch. The owner glared at Naruto, but the Hokage 'convinced' him to let the boy visit and made sure that they wouldn't ever restrict him from visiting again. Naruto grinned at his surrogate grandfather and the two finished lunch around two in the afternoon. They later continued on their way to the market district.

* * *

Upon reaching their destination, they found a rather interesting event at the spot. A ninja, presumably a chūnin, was trying to extort money from a vegetable vendor. The vendor was a near ten year old girl with dark-green shoulder length hair.

"Hey dammit! Give me the money you owe me, girl." said the near twenty year old male ninja.

"W-What? What money? I've never even seen your face until today!" said the dark-green haired girl behind the counter. The people around her were whispering that her father, who was the owner of the shop, wasn't there when her daughter needed help.

The man slammed his hand on the counter and threw away some of the vegetables on it "Your father owes me a hundred thousand ryo from yesterday night, girl! Now I want you to give it to me."

The girl looked at his face for a few seconds then gasped "Y-You! I know you! You were there yesterday at the bar. I saw you from outside, playing cards with the some other people and my father. I saw him win fairly and you just slammed the table and walked out. My father won that money fair and square. He doesn't owe you anything!"

Hiruzen narrowed his eyes dangerously at the ninja and was about to move, but noticed that his blond grandson was not beside him anymore.

The ninja clicked his tongue and glared at the girl, who winced at his gaze "Dammit girl! We ninja are the ones who protect you from all the bandits and idiots who try to kill you! You owe us your lives because of that. It was also us ninjas who protected you from the K- GAH!" he suddenly spit out.

The man, girl and everyone else around noticed that his throat was being crushed with a leg belonging to a young blond boy. The blond dropped to the ground while the man grabbed his own throat and coughed violently. He glared at the young boy and recognized him instantly.

"YOU!" he spat out between coughs.

The young blond glared right back at the man "You're a disgrace for a shinobi of Konoha. I can't believe scum like you even managed to become one."

The man's coughing calmed down and then spat at the young boy, who tilted his head to avoid it "Ha! And what're you gonna do about it, huh? Stupid dem-"

"You don't deserve to be a shinobi of Konoha, much less a chūnin." Naruto cut him off while the man glared at him "Isn't that right..." the blond turned his head to the side "... Hokage-sama?"

Everyone present snapped their heads to the direction the blond turned to and saw their village leader, the Third Hokage, glaring at the man who now started to tremble in fear. He walked towards them and everyone around seemed to have their hair on end, and were standing ramrod straight. Such was the aura of the man known as the God of Shinobi. "You are absolutely right, Naruto-kun. Scum like this isn't needed in my forces." he said and extended his hand with his palm facing upwards.

"Give me your forehead protector." the Hokage simply said while the man whimpered.

"B-But I was just-" he stopped when he saw the Hokage's gaze intensify. He reluctantly removed his Konoha forehead protector and handed it to the Hokage.

The old Hokage pocketed the item, then snapped his fingers. Immediately two ANBU appeared, bowing beside him. "Take this filth to T&I and have him locked up for an indefinite period of time. Have Ibiki play with him if he wants." he said and the two ANBU proceeded to drag the man off who was struggling against them. The man scowled at the blond who ruined his life in a matter of minutes.

Said blond turned his eyes into red slitted ones and glared back at him with total ferocity. The man saw the crimson eyes and started to sweat, then fell unconscious. The ANBU carrying him looked at him, then at the blond who had reverted his eyes to blue, then back at the man. They simply shrugged then disappeared with a **Shunshin** along with the man, happy that their job became easier.

While the villagers were thanking the Hokage for helping them, the girl who was being extorted walked up to the young boy and bowed to him. The blond jumped in surprise as the other villagers turned to look at the two.

"Thank you. You saved me from that man. I don't know what he would have done to me otherwise." she said in a grateful tone.

The blond asked her to stand up straight, then shook his head "It's nothing. Don't think anything about it. That guy didn't deserve to be a ninja in the first place."

The dark-green haired girl smiled while the blond also smiled at her and continued "You know, ninja should protect the people without demanding unfair things from them. Me, I'm gonna grow up and become an awesome ninja, and protect the whole village. I won't let anything happen to anyone in this village and I'm gonna be Hokage! _again_ " he told her with the last part in his thoughts.

"I'm gonna be the best Hokage ever. Everyone in the village will look up to me, and they'll be happy knowing that whatever they do, I'll protect them from everything with my own life!"

The girl as well as everyone else present stared at the young five year old boy, listening to his declaration of future greatness. The girl smiled warmly and patted his head.

"I'm sure you will. I leave my life in your hands then." she said while ruffling his hair, while the young boy gained a tiny spot of pink on his face.

"Yeah! Leave it to me!" he said with a foxy grin.

The other villagers and vendors looked at each other and thought it out. Is this really the demon that killed their loved ones five years ago? Is this really the person who will someday destroy the village? Is this really the person they hate?

After a few seconds, a man snickered and stepped forward from the crowd, and patted the young boy's head. The blond turned up to see one of the vendors from another nearby shop.

"Sure you will, kid. When you do become Hokage, buy me a drink will ya?"

The blond grinned and held his thumb up, signaling his intent to do so. The man shook his head smiling and went back to his shop. The others chuckled at them and went back to their own businesses. The blond grinned again and held a hand to the slightly taller dark-green haired girl.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto." he said to her. The girl looked at him, then smiled and shook his hand.

"My name is Manami Yui. Nice to meet you too." she greeted in reply.

"Ok. Yui-neechan, can I buy some vegetables from you?"

"Of course, come to the shop. You take what you want from the shelves while I clean up the mess." she said while the blond nodded and both of them went towards the shop. They both tended to their own work while Naruto offered to help her but she refused. The two of them spent quite a while just exchanging words while Naruto picked out a large selection of fresh vegetables.

Hiruzen in the meanwhile, was watching all this from a distance with a smile on his face _'It seems he managed to improve his reputation in the market district with his actions, if only a little. With time, they may come to see past the fox within him and see him as a person. This is a good thing for him.'_ he thought and turned to the direction the male ninja was taken away _'Though I must say, that chakra-enhanced kick was pretty strong for a five year old. Granted, I've never seen a five year old do that before anyway.'_

After a few minutes, Naruto returned to the Hokage where he grinned at having made another new friend.

"Good job handling the situation back there, Naruto-kun. Also, I am sorry for harboring such a man within my shinobi ranks." he said in an apologetic tone.

Naruto waved it off and looked back at him "It's alright, jii-chan. It's not your fault. Anyway I'll see you later, jii-chan. I'm going back." Naruto said while his surrogate grandfather nodded his head and waved at him. Hiruzen watched him go off, then smiled and **Shunshin** 'd back to his office.

* * *

As Naruto came back to his apartment, he created a shadow clone and immediately dispelled it, transmitting his orders to the clones at the training ground to dispel themselves. He sat on his couch in a comfortable position and processed the memories flowing into him from the clones. After that was done, he went on to check out his new equipment.

Naruto now had some kunai and shuriken he could use to practice and readjust his throwing accuracy to his new perspective. Along with those were the new cooking apparatus he had bought which would no doubt help in making better meals. For some reason, once he began learning cooking about a week ago, he began to look forward to his own homemade food, as odd as that was.

He also had the fūinjutsu supplies that he could use to further refine his skills, as well as make the one type of seal he needed the most right now. A gravity seal.

 **(A/N:** Alright, here we go. A detailed explanation of my version of one of the popular seals in Naruto fanfiction. You can skip to the next A/N if you want. **)**

The gravity seal was one of the few seals that his father had invented and no one had learned, not even Jiraiya. After the war, Naruto had visited his parents' house and found many _many_ useful things. Even though Konoha had been destroyed twice, he was only lucky that the house was outside the range of most of the destruction, and even more lucky that his father's notes and important stuff were kept in an underground basement, which was also heavily fortified with seals.

One of the things he had found was the gravity seal. His father's version simply made the object or body part it was applied on seem a little bit heavier. For significant effect, many of the seals would have to be applied on the same object.

Naruto's reinvented version took the base concept and expanded it further. He stacked hundreds of them into a single seal then systematically optimized it, reducing the size to a comfortably smaller one. Topping that off with a control seal, one could potentially possess a seal that could increase the gravity on an object to any number of times needed. This is done by the control seal increasing or decreasing the number of base gravity seals in effect at a given moment, while the rest would remain inactive.

Naruto had designed the seal to go up to a maximum of two-hundred and fifty-six times normal gravity, which no human could possibly hope to withstand and would most likely drill a hole through the earth. But such danger was made to be avoided by putting in some restriction seals, which would lock access to higher levels unless the correct combination of hand seals are performed.

When the gravity seal is used on a person for training purposes... Needless to say, Boruto and Himawari had improved by leaps and bounds in the physical aspect of their training.

The downside was that it took quite a bit of time to make alone. Since he already knew the finished product, Naruto would only need to make the final seal instead of making hundreds of them and optimizing them again. The thing is that the seal is actually quite a large one which consumed five whole sheets due to its intricate array of lines and symbols, then with the help of a reduction seal would shrink to the size of a baby's palm, and lastly an application seal which would apply the seal from the paper to the target surface.

If a single person with master class calligraphy and experience sat down to make one of them, he would take at least two hours to make it. In Naruto's case, he was lucky that the seal only took time to draw it and wasn't difficult in and of itself. So he would simply need to focus and draw slowly to get the desired result, which for Naruto would take a total of four hours for perfect results.

True, four hours was not much. But for a single person to train effectively with gravity seals, he would need five of them along with a linked control seal, and that's excluding the security measures. One gravity seal on each arm and leg, and one on the torso. The linked control seal would link all of them and provide a central command seal to tweak them simultaneously.

The control seal was similar to a chakra storage seal, except with sensors. The sensors would check the level of chakra in the seal and produce a result depending on the amount. In this case, more chakra means more gravity acting. Though practically, even maximum chakra was comparable to the chakra of a newly admitted civilian ninja student.

Another downside was that its activation was slow. It takes about an hour to activate completely. But this could also be an upside, in terms of security. On the other hand, the deactivation was almost instant, meaning that its effect would disappear instantly once the chakra in the control seal was absorbed.

 **(A/N:** And the description ends. Thank you for your patience, and not destroying your monitor or cell phone in irritation. **)**

So ultimately, Naruto would need twenty and odd hours to make it available for training. He could use shadow clones, yes, but he wanted to have the satisfaction and sense of security of making it himself. And because of the time needed for that, he would need a silent environment with no disturbance. He knew of a room in the Hokage tower which was dedicated to the art of fūinjutsu and was therefore a soundproof environment. He decided to ask the old Hokage for access to the room.

By the time his thinking and planning was over, one of his shadow clones returned from the training ground carrying the day's catch. Naruto widened his eyes while the clone grinned widely. They had caught a single boar and nothing else. Naruto was surprised to see good game, after a week of seeing hares and rabbits. Even more surprising was that it was a five year old that caught it. This would probably last a few days if he used it resourcefully.

It was now near four in the afternoon. So Naruto decided to get used to the new brush and ink for sealing. He spent the rest of the day practicing his calligraphy by making some storage scrolls and fragment parts of the gravity seal. Around eight in the evening, he stopped and then went to work on making dinner. He, along with another clone, skinned the boar carefully then cleaned it, and put the cut meat in the refrigerator. Though they still used a small batch to make some side dish to go with a bowl of ramen.

He then went to bed with a smile on his face, happy with the progress he made today.

* * *

The next day, he woke earlier than usual and finished his normal routine. Naruto packed all the necessary fūinjutsu equipment into some self-made storage scrolls. He then dashed off to the training ground.

Upon reaching, he created 40 clones again and instructed them to train in the usual fields but exclude hunting. Instead he told the five hunter clones to start the preparations for a small vegetable garden in the training ground. He gave them some money to buy the necessary tools and seeds as well.

Even though hunting was a good way to get meat, he would most likely endanger the animals in the forest and they would migrate away. He figured that after some time, he could eventually persuade the guys in the market district to sell to him normally. This way he could also make some money by selling leftover vegetables and animals skins.

After things settled down, he left to go the Hokage tower. He purposefully went through the market district and went to Yui's shop. When he reached there, he felt his heart wrench painfully.

A few people were gathered around the closed shop and trying to comfort a crying Yui. She was sitting next to the shop with her legs pulled in and her head tucked between them. Naruto went up to one of the people and called him.

"Excuse me. What happened to Yui-neechan?" he asked one of them.

The man turned to look at the five year old, then frowned on seeing him, but sighed and told him the story.

"You were here yesterday during that little incident, right?" Naruto nodded in response "Well, it seems that Yui-chan's dad was scared of that ninja after winning his money, so he abandoned his daughter and left the village with a trade caravan. Yui-chan never knew her mother, and now she's all alone. Poor kid. She's such a good girl and that bastard ruined her life. She doesn't deserve this." the man said while clenching his fists.

By the time he heard the entire story, Naruto was glaring at the ground beneath him with his own fists clenched tightly. He took a deep breath and walked to the crying form of Yui. He went up and sat down in front of her with his legs folded.

"Yui-neechan ..." he called out to her. The ten year old, four and half foot tall, dark-green haired girl twitched at his voice and slowly raised her face. Naruto's own eyes were on the verge of leaking tears at the sight of her weeping face. Despite only knowing her for a few hours and actually talking with her for even less than an hour, Naruto considered her as one of his precious people already, and would protect her no matter what. Seeing her in this state made his body tremble ever so slightly.

"I... heard what happened... Please calm down, Yui-neechan. It hurts me... to see you crying like this." Naruto said to her in a shaky voice.

As soon as Yui recognized the person in front of her, she immediately clung onto the three and half foot boy. She wept uncontrollably while holding him tightly.

"D-Daddy... he... he abandoned me to... to keep some money. He was the only... only family I had. What am I supposed to do now?" she asked him in between sobs.

Naruto looked down, then rubbed her back gently while whispering soothingly in her ear "It's okay, neechan. It's okay. You still have me. I'll be your otōto (younger brother) for you, and you'll be my neechan. I won't let you be alone."

"Mm.." she just nodded and tried to stifle her sobs. She then asked Naruto something he did not ever expect.

"Can you... can you come and live with me?" she asked shakily.

Everyone around heard it and they, as well as Naruto, widened their eyes in surprise. Naruto tried to look at her face, but she wouldn't let go of him and hence couldn't see her. He frowned to himself and tried to think a way out of this situation. If Naruto, the so-called 'demon brat', lives with a civilian, people would start gossip and things could possibly go downhill for him, as well as for Yui. Bad rumors would start spreading about her and she'd become a social outcast. Not to mention the fact that he only met her a day ago, and things can't possibly go this fast. It would most probably turn out horribly for both of them in the end.

Naruto tried to pry her off him, but was unable to do so. He gulped and tried to talk her out of it "Y-Yui-neechan ... I-I don't think that's a good idea. People would think that I'm taking advantage of you and talk about both of us badly... S-So it's bett-" he was cut off by Yui who furiously shook her head.

"NO! No... It's not like that. You... You are a good and well-mannered boy, Naruto-kun. I see you as my otōto and I know you wouldn't do anything bad. I won't let anyone say anything bad about you..." she said, loud enough for everyone to hear.

Naruto started sweating lightly at the situation he landed himself in. He shakily looked around to see the others' faces, and what he saw surprised him. He expected to be glared at and whispered bad things about. But instead, the people around the two were frowning in thought. He saw some of them talking to each other about something then all of them turned back to him.

A minute later, a tall and muscled man came up to the two children on the ground and kneeled down on one leg "Listen kid, I'll be honest with ya. I accept that not all of us here are very happy with you. But all of us love Yui-chan a lot more than we dislike you. So on behalf of all of us," he bowed lightly to Naruto "we ask you to keep her happy. And if that means she wants you to live with her, then we'll suck up our dislike of you and accept it. Please... help her." he said and the others also bowed their heads to him (please keep in mind that they did not prostrate, instead they just bowed their heads).

Naruto's eyes were bulging out of his head by now. The villagers who he knew to hate him from his birth actually bowed their heads to him in order to keep this girl happy. Something was wrong. Something was definitely wrong. Things were going too fast and it was unnatural. He had to find out what was going on. But before that, he needed to resolve the situation he was in at present.

Naruto slowly pried Yui off of him and held her hands, while looking at her face "I understand, Yui-neechan. I will live with you from now on and I will be your otōto. You are my neechan from now on and I will keep you happy... as a part of your family." he said, looking straight into her jade eyes with his own cerulean blue orbs.

Yui's eyes lit up in happiness and she immediately glomped him again, with wet eyes but not crying. She closed her eyes and only one phrase kept coming from her soft lips "Thank you... Thank you..." Naruto smiled and hugged her back as well. The people around them smiled at the sight of the two youngsters and Naruto rubbed her back soothingly until she fell asleep right on him.

* * *

After laying Yui down to sleep in her house, which was conveniently right above the shop and Naruto entered using the key in her pocket, Naruto asked one of the neighboring shopkeepers to tell her that he will come back in the evening after making his preparations.

Naruto then left the area to go to the Hokage tower with a different objective in mind than before. His mood though was not as happy as expected, instead he was a bit concerned at this sense-defying development, thus he wouldn't be able to make the gravity seal with his current state of mind.

 _'Kami-chan...'_

The violet-haired goddess was sitting on the branch of a tree watching the giant fox sleep peacefully when she heard her host's voice.

 _ **"Yes? What do you need, Naruto-kun?"**_

Naruto kept walking through the streets while continuing his mental conversation with his divine tenant.

 _'What's going on, Kami-chan? Something's not right here. Just because I helped Yui-neechan once yesterday doesn't mean she'd become this attracted to me. I only met them yesterday, but the people in the market were even willing to put aside the matter with the fox and bow their heads to me. Now that I think of it, Ino-chan and the others also became familiar with me way too fast. I just don't get what's going on!'_

The woman breathed out calmly and answered her host's worries _**"I know, Naruto-kun. I know that's not natural and I also know why that's happening as well."**_

Naruto widened his eyes _'Really? So why is it then?'_

 _ **"You see, when I entered your mind that day to stay here, I unconsciously let a very tiny bit of my energy slip into your chakra stream. Usually my aura has many properties like attraction, calming and in some cases - healing. The energy that mixed with your chakra enhanced the very source of your chakra itself and now it has an unnoticeable aura of attraction. Luckily enough, the energy wasn't enough to produce very significant effects and hence you are only a little bit more attractive than your usual self."**_

 _ **"So what I'm saying is... It's not a big deal and people will like you a little bit more. That's all."**_

Naruto took a deep breath and exhaled _'Well, I won't say no to people liking me better. I don't exactly like the glares sent my way anyway. Though I do hope people remain normal to an extent. Hey wait! If what you say is true, why did that drunk guy attack me that day?'_

 _ **"..."**_

 _ **"Because he was drunk?"**_

 _'...'_

 _'Point noted. Is there any real problem with this then?'_

The goddess tapped her chin in thought, then shook her head _**"No. I don't think there's any problem."**_

Naruto nodded in reply _'Good then. Thank you, Kami-chan.'_

 _ **"You are welcome, Naruto-kun."**_

* * *

Naruto reached the Hokage tower at around eleven in the morning and asked the secretary for an appointment with the Hokage. The woman simply nodded and went off to the office. She returned a minute later and told him to go ahead, which he did after bowing to the lady. She went back to her desk thinking she's never going to get used to that.

Naruto entered the office to see the Hokage was standing beside the window with his pipe, watching over the village. He then turned and greeted the blond.

"Good day, Naruto-kun. What is it that you need today?"

Naruto inhaled deeply and exhaled "I want permission to move to a new place, Hokage-sama."

Hiruzen noticed the use of his formal title and understood that this was a serious matter. He took a puff from his pipe, then went and sat on his seat.

"Explain." he said in a serious voice.

Naruto nodded and explained the situation to him. Yui's father abandoning her, her clinging onto Naruto as a lifeline, the people themselves requesting him to help her and his own political view of the situation. The old Hokage took in every detail of the story and kept nodding. He was more surprised with the boy's forethought regarding the civilian side of the council, but managed to hide it nonetheless.

"So, in my opinion, it's better to get the support of a large number of civilians first and then inform the council of the situation, if at all needed. Though personally, I think it's better if you don't say anything at all until they find out themselves. This would most probably not cause too many problems for you, and they can't say anything because you'd already have the support of the people by then." the boy concluded.

The Hokage rubbed his chin in thought then nodded. He took a paper from a shelf along with a brush and ink, then wrote something on the paper. After finishing, he channeled some of his chakra into it, then handed the paper to the boy.

Naruto read through the nearly blank document which only had some words at the top and bottom, which basically said that the signatures in the sheet attest to supporting him in moving in with the civilian Manami Yui, along with the Hokage's own signature at the top of the blank list. Naruto looked up from the document in his hands and saw the Hokage smiling at him.

"Naruto-kun, you go and get as many signatures as you can from the civilians and I will let you do what you want."

Naruto nodded and looked at the sheet again, then decided to try his luck "Hokage-sama, could you give me some more of these?" he asked, gesturing at the sheet.

The Hokage shrugged and made two more of those documents and gave them to the boy. The blond got up from his seat, then bowed to the village leader and left the office.

Hiruzen went back to the window and looked down at the village _'This is an interesting development. Though it is wrong of me to use that poor girl like this, one of two things will happen in regards to this situation. Either the villagers will claim that Naruto threatened and did something to the people supporting him_ _ **or**_ _they will come to understand that he isn't a bad child and treat him better. I strongly hope that the latter would occur.'_ he thought and took another puff from his pipe.

* * *

The moment Naruto got out of the tower, he dashed to the market district, skillfully avoiding all human obstacles in his path. He then spent the rest of his day collecting as many signatures as he could from the people there. Not so surprisingly, word had already spread about the situation.

What _was_ surprising was that a _lot_ of people knew Yui. She was a happy girl who used to work at the vegetable shop for a year along with her father. Many people had a soft spot for her and hence they wanted to help her any way they could. Naruto skipped lunch and playing with his friends today, and instead tried to get as many people to sign the document as he could.

Around half past six in the evening, Naruto returned to the Hokage's office and gave him the documents. Hiruzen took the documents from the blond and glanced over them. He widened his eyes and turned to the blond, who was grinning widely and shrugged. He turned back to the sheets and quickly counted the number of signatures.

"Kami..." the old Hokage breathed out.

 _ **"Yes?"**_ the goddess replied happily.

Naruto chuckled and shook his head "So, can I move now then?"

The old Hokage nodded dumbly "Yes of course, Naruto-kun. With this many, even the civilian council can't say anything."

Naruto grinned happily then ran towards the door "Well then, see you later, jii-chan." he said waving his arm and went out of his office.

Hiruzen sighed and put the documents in a secure file, then walked back to the window "Looks like people may see his true nature after all."

* * *

Naruto was walking home with a big smile on his face when he remembered the clones he put for training in the morning. He facepalmed himself and ran to his training ground.

There he saw that all 40 of his clones were practicing calligraphy. He ordered them to dispel five at a time, as he got into a meditative position under a tree. Once all of them were done, he found out that the clones that were doing chakra consuming exercises, namely control and sparring, stopped and went to calligraphy to not get dispelled after using up all of their chakra. Practicing handwriting consumed their chakra at a slower pace and hence they did that, in order not to waste any training time. This helped to refine his handwriting a lot more than usual, and with some experimentation, he found that it was good enough to be able to make some higher level seals like security seals.

With regards to the vegetable garden, he learnt that his clones made all the necessary preparations except planting the seeds themselves. They even built a makeshift fence for the time being.

He went back to his apartment and began packing all the things he would need in his new abode. What he realized was that there weren't that many things he would need except his fūinjutsu supplies, training equipment, cooking ingredients, cup ramen, the newly bought stuff and his clothes and toothbrush.

After everything was packed in his storage scrolls, he stuffed them into a bag and took one last look at his apartment. Even in the past and now, it was a pretty dirty place which he never bothered to clean up. He locked the door and walked off to his new place with his new sister.

* * *

It was a quarter past eight by the time he reached his new home, and he knocked on the door. A few soft footsteps neared the door from the other side while Naruto's heart started beating faster. In a few seconds, the door opened and Naruto finally took a good full view of his new sister.

Manami Yui was a ten year old, four and half foot tall girl with jade eyes. She had a little longer than shoulder length dark-green hair covering her ears, with two straight bangs framing her cute face upto the chin. She had bright tan skin and was wearing a white one piece dress which reached her knees, whose bottom half consisted of green leaf patterns. She had a curious expression on her face which soon turned into happiness.

"Naruto-kun! You came!" she said gleefully.

Naruto instead pouted in response "Of course I did. I promised my neechan that I would."

Yui giggled and let her new otōto in, which Naruto gratefully accepted. Though he was here once in the morning, he now took a good look around the house. It was a fairly spacious house with a large living room, a kitchen, two bedrooms, a bathroom and a small balcony.

The living room had a good-sized couch along the far right wall from the main door. In front of it was a coffee table, and along the walls beside the couch were some shelves with decorative figures and flower vases, and a few bookshelves. To the left of the door was the dining room which simply had a dining table for four, and some extra chairs. The kitchen counter took the place of one side of the room, whereas the far left wall opened up with doors to a small balcony overlooking the streets. The kitchen was modest with counters and a number of cupboards, a sink and a refrigerator.

Along the hallway in the middle of the rear part of the house were one door on the left in the far back, and two doors on the right. The first half of the left hallway was open to lead to the kitchen, and the second was the door to the smaller bedroom, which had a small two-person bed with other simple furniture. The first door on the right was that of the main bedroom with a large queen-sized bed with white pillow and mattress, and jade covers. Along with the bed were two bedside tables, shelves, wardrobes, mirrors and a table with drawers. The last door on the right was a simple bathroom with a spacious shower, a wash stone and an enclosed toilet.

After seeing the entire house, only one thought raced through Naruto's mind.

 _'Was Yui's dad retarded?'_

 _ **"He must have been. There's no other explanation."**_ Apparently, the goddess in his mind was thinking the same thing.

 _'Yeah, I mean come on. This place is like a king's palace compared to my apartment! Who in their right mind would abandon this place for a little bit of money? Yes, this house would probably cost about one and a half million ryo. But still, no one would give this up and a daughter for a few hundred thousand ryo.'_

 _ **"Maybe there were circumstances we don't know about."**_

 _'That or he's stupid.'_ Naruto summed up and the goddess shrugged in reply. Kurama was still in the middle of a day-long nap and didn't notice anything.

Naruto proceeded to walk to the smaller bedroom before Yui called out to him "Naruto-kun, wait... Could you... maybe..." The blond turned back and looked at his sister questioningly.

The girl fidgeted at her spot with a red face until the young boy questioned her "What's wrong, Yui-neechan?"

"Could you..." she took a deep breath and looked at the blond "Could you move into the same room as me? I... I probably won't be able to sleep easily for a few days without daddy, so..."

Naruto looked at the girl for a seconds, then blinked. He turned around and went for the main bedroom instead "Sure, neechan" he said with a quiet voice which she heard anyway. But she still couldn't see the slight shade of red the boy's face had gained.

After unpacking his things and settling in, Naruto suggested that the two of them go and eat dinner at Ichiraku Ramen, which Yui had no real problem with though she wasn't particularly fond of the food item either. And so, they finished their meal at Ichiraku's with Naruto eating ten bowls, compensating for skipping lunch. Yui finished her two bowls by the time Naruto had finished eight, mainly because she was awed at seeing a five year old gorge through them so fast. Carefully avoiding some teasing from Ayame and paying the bill, they both returned home at around ten and went straight for bed, exhausted from the day's activities.

Both of them shared the same bed and pulled on the covers. Naruto was too distracted by the feeling of sleeping in a comfortable bed after ten days to even notice the blush on his sister's face. Eventually, he calmed and let sleep overtake him, but not before saying one last thing in the night to his sister.

"Good night, Yui-neechan."

Yui stared at the boy, then smiled and touched her forehead to his and closed her eyes "Good night, my otōto, Naruto-kun." she said and both drifted off into sleep.

In another house, a platinum-blonde haired girl suddenly sat up straight on her bed and stared off into space "Why do I get the feeling that something I don't like is going on?" she asked to no one in particular and went back to sleep again.

* * *

 **Meanwhile, a fair distance from Konoha**

"So, are we done?" asked a person in merchant garbs.

"Like hell we are! We told you to get the girl, not this fatass!" said another crude looking person.

"What's so special about the girl anyway?"

"HAH! What do you know? That girl has a 'special' body that no one except this fatass and the boss knows. He said that if she's given the right training, she'd be very useful for our group. The fatass found out about our plans and ran away with the girl. We looked for them for an year and found she was here, Konoha, of all places."

"So what do we do then?"

"You go back and get the girl, while we take care of this idiot. Pff! He thought he could buy us off with some pocket change."

"Huh? What about our payment?"

"YOU DON'T GET ANY PAYMENT UNTIL YOU BRING THE GIRL!"

"Damn you... If I wasn't about to go bankrupt because of low sales, I'd never associate with the likes of you."

"Yeah? Well you are and you don't have any choice. Now go get the girl and we'll talk about your precious payment." the crude man said while the other went off. The man walked over and removed a sword from a suspicious looking mass of flesh on the ground.

"OI! Get over here! Take whatever he's got and throw his body into a ditch. Get going!"

Two more men came and started looting the body of any valuables. They then carried the body to a natural ditch and threw it there, and walked off dusting their hands. The body which was now lying in the pit, could be seen having a tightly wound chain around his fist. Connected to the chain was an open locket with the photo of a thirty year old man and a nine year old girl standing in front of a vegetable shop, smiling happily.

* * *

 **A/N:** And that's a wrap. Yeah I know you probably have a lot to complain about in this chapter, some of which I know as well. By the way, for now I'm not planning to give any big role to that energy in his body but maybe I will in the future. Also, I apologize for not putting in any action type stuff in there yet. I'm waiting for a good chance for that.

I really wanted to replace otōto with some other word, but unfortunately, in direct translation, 'little brother', 'younger brother' or 'kid brother' are way too long.

Thank you for reading this chapter. Please remember to **REVIEW** below. Most of you don't know how much it helps.

For example, reviews encourage us to continue and also makes it ever so easier to find this fic among the thousands of others. Anyway bye now. Blaze Out!


	3. Rescues and Revelations

**Author's Note (A/N):** Hello again everyone! This chapter has my first time writing an actual fight scene. So yeah, I'm pretty nervous how it turned out. Please give me your opinion on it later.

 **Foreword:** This chapter focuses solely on Yui and events regarding her. The beginning is extremely slow-paced but then picks up. Please try and read the whole chapter.

Also, I'm sorry for adding in random comments in middle of the story. I just have to satisfy my desire! Mainly because many people skip reading the author's notes at the top and bottom.

Now, on to the story!

 **Disclaimer:** If I owned Naruto, it would have been off the books ages ago. Now considering that such a thing didn't happen, I can only conclude that I don't own it.

* * *

Chapter 3: Rescues and Revelations

A normal dawn on a normal Konoha. The giant faraway ball of fire that was the sun was slowly making its way above the horizon, warming the lands and awakening them from a night of silent rest. It was nearing six in the morning while the environment began coming to life.

Yui's eyes fluttered open as she took in the obvious signs of waking up from sleep in the morning.

Chirping sounds, check. Rays of light, check. Hazy eyes, check. Moving snoring teddy bear in her arms... check?

"Eh?"

Yui looked down to her arms to see that they were wrapped around a young boy with sun-kissed blond hair and three whisker marks on each cheek, who was snuggling himself in her arms, unconsciously enjoying the warmth from the girl and the long-missed soft mattress.

The girl froze as the memories and events from the previous day came rushing to her head. She stared at the peaceful sleeping face of her new otōto with her red face while a smile etched its way onto her face. Slowly, she released him and got up from bed, taking care not to wake up the boy so early in the morning for no reason. She stood on her feet and stretched her arms. The girl took one more glance at the young blond, and went to start the morning rituals.

Yui brushed her teeth, while gazing into her face in the mirror. She noticed the dullness in her own eyes, but ignored it. She then saw the reflection of a rather chubby man walk across behind her while yawning. Yui widened her eyes and snapped her head backwards to see...

Nothing.

The emerald-haired girl stared at the blank wall behind her, then sighed through her nostrils and turned around, spit into the sink and cleaned herself up, then proceeded into the shower. She imagined the face of the blond boy she knew and smiled unknowingly. But the more she thought of her very few memories with him, the more she remembered the face of the person who came to be the cause of him living with her.

Deburo. The girl thought of him as her own father. She thought it weird that he didn't have any surname while she did. Deburo had told Yui a few years ago that he had adopted her as his own daughter when he had found her as a 3-year old, unconscious outside of a wrecked building. He had told her that he knew her parents from a few meetings with them, but never went into detail. Yui, being the innocent child that she was, never questioned him further since she didn't need to know about them back then because she had Deburo already.

Her memories with him were all happy ones, with the both of them smiling and laughing without a care in the world. Though she had some memories that she didn't understand too well. Mainly the times when her father was sometimes on edge and the both of them relocated somewhere else shortly afterwards. One year ago, he was significantly nervous and fidgety, before he suddenly decided that they would migrate to Konoha. The months thereafter were some of the best times of her life as she got to work alongside her father, met many new people, made lots of friends with the people around their vegetable shop and such.

Then came the memory of him leaving her without even telling her that he was going somewhere. She was... shocked, to say the least, when the people told her that he had abandoned her for some money he won from a card game. Afterwards she had a near mental breakdown and descended into a sobbing fit in front of the shop, when the boy from the previous day came and tried to cheer her up which led to him agreeing to become her younger brother and live with her for her own selfishness.

Yui sighed as she felt the warm water hit her skin one last time, before turning off the shower and grabbing a towel. She shook her head clear of any depressing thoughts and focused on what to do from now on. She now had a new member in her house and she had to work twice as hard to sustain her family without her father around anymore. She got dressed quickly and put on the locket her father had bought for himself and her. And with fire in her eyes, she set off to work.

* * *

Naruto slowly opened his eyes and blinked at the unfamiliar ceiling. It was eight in the morning with the sounds of a few people going on about their businesses reaching Naruto's ears. Immediately recalling the past events, he turned to the side only to see an empty spot on the white mattress. He sprawled on the bed, stretching his limbs, then got up. He went out of the room and into the main hall. He looked around but could not find his new elder sister. He closed his eyes and formed an unnoticeable chakra field of around a 50 meter radius.

Naruto, the former Seventh Hokage, had a very wide range of skills which also included sensory abilities. He wasn't exactly a prodigy in the art but he was among the upper ranks of sensors on his own. With a tiny bit of Kurama's chakra, he was easily the best sensor in the village with a range equivalent to one and a half of Konoha. The only one who could possibly match him would have been Karin with her godly range of 10 kilometers or more. Granted, Naruto could still improve his own with more chakra and concentration.

Back to the point, Naruto only made a small search field because he somewhat had an idea of where Yui would be and he didn't want to strain his body first thing in the morning. In a few seconds, he locked on to the faint but familiar chakra signature he was looking for. He just stayed like that sensing it go back and forth between a cart like object and the store. He guessed that she was restocking the shop with fresh vegetables and opened his eyes. He walked out of the door and down the stairs, cracking his knuckles for a workout.

Coming down the stairs, he walked right up to Yui who put down a box of cabbages in the shop. She saw him coming and formed a smile.

"Good morning, Naruto-kun/Yui-neechan." they both blinked at each other and chuckled. Yui got ready to head out to the cart again when Naruto grabbed her hand. She turned to him with a curious glance.

"Let me help you, neechan." said the boy while the girl just smiled and shook her head.

"I appreciate the thought, Naruto-kun. But these may be a bit too heavy for you." she said gesturing towards the cart.

Naruto smirked and ran to the cart. He grabbed and lifted a relatively smaller box of carrots with a huff. Yui just stared wide eyed as she watched her 5-year old brother carry the box slowly to the shop and put it down. Naruto wiped some sweat from his forehead and grinned at her before running back to the cart. Yui wasn't about to let her otōto outshine her, so she also got to work. What the girl didn't know was that Naruto was reinforcing his muscles with chakra to be able to lift the boxes.

Five minutes later, both of them set down the last box of onions and stood up. They glanced at each other, panting heavily after the box relocation event.

"Well... that was... a good morning exercise." Naruto breathed out as he took a deep breath and straightened up, almost instantly.

"I'm... impressed that you were able to lift those, Naruto-kun." Yui said, not as exhausted as her brother but tired nonetheless.

Naruto gave her his trademark foxy grin as he sniffed himself. He grimaced at his body odor as he started walking back up the stairs. Yui shook her head with a smile and got to work on arranging the vegetables on the shelves.

After a shower and dressing himself in his usual white t-shirt and black shorts, Naruto came to the dining room just as he saw Yui enter. Yui just smiled at him while she washed her hands and then began making some egg and bread toast. Naruto gave her some minor help in between, which didn't surprise her that much since he had told her that he lived alone and she had assumed he knew some basic dishes... as strange as that would be for a 5-year old.

During the meal at the dining table, Yui turned to Naruto and asked him a certain thing that was on her mind.

"Ne Naruto-kun, what did you used to do all day when you were living alone?"

Naruto swallowed a piece and went for some water "Not much really. Since I want to be Hokage, I just spend my time training. If not, then I spend time with jii-chan and my other friends."

Yui nodded at that while taking another bite then put on a confused face "But then, what did you do for the bills and food?"

"Jii-chan gives me an allowance every week. About 6000 to 8000 ryo and I use that to pay the monthly bills and for food."

Yui finished her meal just as Naruto finished his and she asked him "So what are you going to do today?"

Naruto chugged down a glass of water and slammed it down on the table as he raised his arms into the air "Training!" he shouted before running to the door and put on his sandals. He ran out the door shouting 'Bye neechan!' while Yui giggled at his antics and set to cleaning the table before going to work herself.

* * *

Naruto reached his private training ground as he quickly created 50 shadow clones and put them to work. His control had gotten much better than before and coupled with the morning's exercise, made for an extra 10 clones. But it was still a speck of dust compared to his record of 5000 clones but it was slowly but surely improving. He put 15 clones on chakra control, 10 on taijutsu adjustment, 15 on kunai and shuriken adjustment, 8 on calligraphy and 2 on food retrieval. He told the last two to plant the seeds in the garden first then go find some wild fruits for lunch.

And before long, he realized that he had left the seeds, practice weapons and fūinjutsu equipment back at the house. He facepalmed himself then instructed the last 25 to split between the other exercises, while he got ready to make a marathon sprint to the house, then dashed out of the training ground at speeds that would put a normal cat to shame. (Note: Tora is not a normal cat)

Zipping past the crowd, he reached the shop/house and was about to go up the stairs when he noticed a merchant talking to Yui inside the shop. Normally, this wouldn't be that unusual and people would ignore it. But Naruto observed his body language and his tense stance, and couldn't help but be suspicious. Light paranoia is a ninja's friend in this world after all. Heightening his hearing with some chakra, he shamelessly eavesdropped on the conversation.

"So, how about it, miss?"

"I'm... not sure, sir. I mean we already have the usual supply for us so we don't really need new stock."

"Please don't say such things, miss. Our products are all imported from other countries. You need only come to our caravan near the village gates and pick out the stock."

"But I-"

"You can come whenever you're free, miss. It's rather crowded there during the day as well. I'll be waiting there for you." he bowed to her and walked out of the shop. Naruto narrowed his eyes at the man and made two shadow clones. One **Henge** 'd into a random villager while the other climbed up to the roof. Both of them followed the man quietly as he went off. It wasn't bad for him to ever be too careful.

Naruto looked at Yui to see that she went back to work with the other customers. He figured that it's better safe than sorry, so he made another shadow clone who hid himself with a good view of both the shop and the stairs to the house. The original went up to the house and quickly grabbed his equipment, and dashed off with one last glance at his sister.

* * *

Quite pissed off that he's not getting the right mood to be able to make the gravity seal, he was a bit reckless in the day's physical training. He pushed himself beyond his limits and ultimately ended up with a totally exhausted body by two in the afternoon. He tiredly ate some fruits and walked off lazily. The clones looked at the original go off and talked with each other.

"Man, the boss is pretty stupid to use up all his energy in the morning."

"You know, you just called all of us stupid, including yourself."

"No, he called _him_ stupid. Not all of you."

"Huh? So you're telling us all of us are stupid except you? You bastards."

"No dammit! I- … Ah damn fine! You're all stupid."

"WHAT? Come here!" and so, a brawl fest erupted in the training ground for no apparent reason. Naruto gained the memories from a dispelled clone and sweat-dropped.

 _'What are those idiots doing?'_

" _ **Naruto-kun, you do know that you just called yourself an idiot right?"**_

 _'No, I-... Bah, screw it.'_ the goddess just chuckled at her host's actions.

* * *

"Yo guys. Long time no see." Naruto said as he walked into the park as Ino, Shikamaru, Chōji and Sakura looked towards the incoming blond.

"Naruto!" Ino said as she got up excitedly, but then folded her arms and pouted childishly "Where have you been the last few days?"

Naruto sat next to Shikamaru who was on the ground watching the clouds and nodded his head in greeting to him and Chōji, who also nodded back. He waved to Sakura who did the same. He looked back to Ino and rubbed the back of his head, grinning sheepishly "Well you see, I was busy with some work for the past two days and some... family problems." The others looked to each other and shrugged, then turned back to the blond. "Okay. Now that you're here, let's play!"

Naruto looked at the sky and sighed, while laying down next to Shikamaru "I'm sorry, Ino-chan. I just came here today to see you guys. Right now, playing is just too... troublesome." he said while Ino gaped at him and Shikamaru smirked "I think I should sue you for that." he said while the blond snorted.

After half an hour of watching clouds of various shapes and sizes move lazily across the sky without a care in the world, Naruto and Shika opted to play their daily match of shōgi which ended in Naruto's victory as usual with their game time bumped up to 40 minutes. Next he played against Sakura, who desperately wanted a match with him. Naruto agreed with a shrug and played. They finished in 15 minutes with his victory while Sakura gaped at the board. She demanded another match which Naruto didn't care about, so accepted... and he obviously won as well, which led to her demanding more rematches every time she lost.

Right when they were about to rearrange the pieces for another match, Naruto received the memories of one of the clones from the merchant spy team. Upon processing them, he sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

 _'Why does trouble follow me wherever I go? Makes me wonder how we went through a decade without any major problems.'_

" _ **That's a mystery for the ages."**_ replied his inner goddess.

 _'Kami... -chan. I'm too old for this crap.'_

" _ **Naruto-kun, you're 5-years old."**_

 _'Then I'm too young for this crap.'_ the goddess shook her head with a smile while Kurama snorted.

" _ **Kid, half of your life was crap. The other half was boring as hell."**_

 _'No comment. Man, I can't even spend time with my friends.'_ he said mentally and got up.

"Sorry guys, I have some more work to do at my house so I'll see you tomorrow." he said tiredly and went off waving goodbye. The four watched him go with some of them feeling confused and some feeling pity.

"Naruto kind of looks like an old man who's really tired. I wonder what happened to him." Ino wondered aloud while Shika just shrugged and went back to his usual hobby.

As soon as the park was out of sight, Naruto kicked the ground and dashed full speed back to the shop. On the way, he received the memory of the clone guarding Yui. He learned that she closed the shop early and was walking towards the gate to meet the trader. He grit his teeth and pushed himself to run faster. While running, he got an idea and quickly cut through an empty alley and continued running. A second later, another Naruto emerged from the alley and went towards the Hokage tower.

* * *

 _ **Flashback**_

 _The two shadow clones, one on the ground as a random villager and one on the rooftops, followed the trader through the streets as he came to a restaurant. The two just observed him from outside stealthily until he came back out after a while and started walking again. They finally reached the caravan he had mentioned just within the south gate. The two kept watch on him for a few hours and noticed that the place was not very crowded as the trader had made it out to be. A few people would glance at them, but a only rare few went and actually bought anything._

 _Around four in the afternoon, they noticed that the trader seemed to be very... impatient. He was either pacing back and forth, or tapping his foot. The clones decided to go take a closer look. When the trader was in range, both of them enhanced their hearing and listened to him._

" _That brat! How long is it going to take her to come? Be it her father or her, they just keep people waiting. Heh. I'm glad the idiot got killed. He dared to keep me waiting, he had it coming for him. But I wish I'd gotten the money from him instead of those stupid thugs. I'd have put it to much better use. Did I at least get the payment? No~, 'you bring the girl and_ then _you get payment' he says. The bastard. Acting like he's all that just because he had a sword in his hands. What's the big deal with that 'ability' he says the girl has anyway? DAMN IT! Where's that brat already?! I hate waiting!"_

 _The two clones widened their eyes and glanced to each other. The villager clone nodded and quickly slipped from the crowd. The roof clone continued to keep watch on the situation, hoping to learn more. The other went into an alley and immediately dispelled himself, sending his memories to the original._

* * *

Clouds were beginning to move in and the sky was darkening. At around five, Naruto reached the south gate where he knew the caravan was. Just as he reached there, he quickly and stealthily jumped into one of the carts and hid behind some crates. He hurried to silence his heavy breaths and channeled chakra to his ears, while creating a sensor field along the length of the caravan.

Naruto sensed and heard his sister with the trader talking business while walking towards the same cart he was in, which also happened to be the last of the 3 carts. Upon reaching, the people around her gagged her mouth and tied her up while pushing her into the cart. He sensed them hurry off back to the front while one of them climbed into the cart to watch the girl.

But before the caravan could start moving, Naruto made his move as he strangled the man's neck from behind him with a nearby rope. The man was knocked out relatively fast since he wasn't a ninja. Naruto wondered about his chakra levels but then found a memory of his clones dispelling the moment the spy clone dispelled, sending some chakra back to the original. So with no hesitation, he made a shadow clone who quickly grabbed Yui and jumped out of the cart. The clone from earlier that was keeping watch over the operation from the rooftop, nodded and dispelled. The Naruto holding Yui hurried back to the house.

Meanwhile inside the cart, Naruto was looking around for something to write with, as the caravan started to move out of the village at a not-so-normal pace. Not finding anything he could use, he crushed a tomato from one of the crates and used its liquid to quickly draw a chakra pulse seal at a concealed position and channeled an insignificant amount of chakra into it.

 **(A/N:** A single paragraph description of the chakra pulse seal below. Skip if not interested.)

The chakra pulse seal simply lets out a barely noticeable short chakra wave periodically which lingers at the spot for a few minutes. With a catalyst like tomato liquid, the strength of the wave is horribly low but it gets the job done. This seal _would_ have been useful in throwing off pursuers, if only it didn't take super high grade ink to even be able to near the level of an actual distraction. As it is, it's better used to create a trail for an ally to pick up on and follow. This is because not many people are talented enough to sense actual movement of chakra instead of residue. So far, Naruto only knew Karin to be able to do that.

Naruto could have used his own blood to do the seal, but it would be unstable right now. He was also taking precautions to not alert the possible rescue team to his fūinjutsu skills. Though with the situation he was currently in, he could care less.

Once the caravan went out of sight of the village gate, it picked up the pace drastically and was going pretty fast now. The reason why Naruto was even in the caravan was because he wanted to find the root of this issue and end it, to make sure they wouldn't come for Yui again.

Naruto noticed the man from earlier groan and start to wake up. So the boy quickly made another clone who **Henge** 'd himself into the tied up form of an unconscious Yui while Naruto hid himself. The man woke up and noticed the girl still tied up and asleep. He rubbed his neck which was oddly itchy and scratched his head, seemingly having forgotten something, but then shrugged and leaned onto the cart wall.

* * *

 **Meanwhile, Hokage Tower**

The Third Hokage paced around the room with worry obvious on his face as he heard a knock from the door. He went back to his seat and allowed them to enter. Two people came into the office and bowed respectfully to their village leader. The old Hokage nodded and started.

"I believe the both of you know about Uzumaki Naruto-kun, yes?" he asked them as both nodded.

"Have you heard about his new abode as well then?" he asked and they nodded again.

"Then I will get straight to the point. His sister Manami Yui had been kidnapped by some men posing as a trade caravan near the south gate. But luckily, Naruto-kun managed to get her out before they left the village." he said as he noticed one of the men's shoulder slump slightly in relief.

"However, my informant told me that the boy himself took her place by disguising himself as his sister, in order to get to the root of the situation and take care of it." he continued as both of the men widened their eyes.

"Now, your mission is to find this caravan and rescue Uzumaki Naruto from them. Once that is done, you will learn more about the situation and find a way around it, while eliminating any threats to the boy as well as any other citizen of this village. Is that understood?" he said in an authoritative voice to which both of them nodded in seriousness.

"This is an A-rank mission due to the possible threat to the village and also because of the importance of the boy to this village. Once accomplished, bring the boy with you to my office. Dismissed!" he said, and the two men bowed to him once more before disappearing in puffs of smoke. The old Hokage went to the window and looked towards the south gate as he noticed the two men from before racing across the rooftops at high speeds.

 _'Stay safe, Naruto-kun. You are not in the future right now, so you are not as strong. I trust that you will not do anything more foolish than what you already have and take steps not to get yourself killed. Help is coming, Naruto-kun. You need only wait.'_ the Third Hokage thought to himself as he went back to his work.

* * *

 **Outside Konoha South Gate**

The two men were racing beside the road looking for any clue of the caravan. Then they stopped as both of them glanced at each other.

"Do you feel that as well?" one of them asked while the other nodded.

"A faint chakra presence going along the road. It's getting weaker by the second." the other said.

"The boy must have either been scared or was purposefully flaring his chakra intensely along the path." the first said.

"Doesn't matter. Let's follow it quickly before it disappears... Well, even if it does disappear, there are some tracks on the road anyways."

Both of them nodded and continued dashing along the faint trail of chakra.

* * *

The caravan had stopped after two hours of travel and the trader from before had pulled Yui/Naruto-clone out of the cart. The two of them walked through the forest while Naruto erased the chakra pulse seal and followed them from above via tree branches. He watched his clone put up mock struggles every now and then, to create more trail clues. Finally they reached a clearing where three people who seemed to be bandits were waiting.

The trader pushed Yui to the middle one of the three who smirked and tossed him a pouch, presumably full of money. The trader caught it and examined its contents before smiling. He and the bandit leader made small talk for a minute then both of them left their own ways. Naruto followed the bandits as they crossed a narrow stream and continued through the forest.

It was half past seven with dark skies and occasional drops of rain, when they reached a cave entrance which was hard to notice because of the shape of the cliff face. They all continued inside while Naruto decided to put more distance between them and followed inside. The cave was around 10 feet wide and the ceiling was high enough to stack two people vertically. The walls were of plain rock and the tunnel was fairly dark as well. But besides that, it looked like a completely normal cave with wouldn't arouse any suspicion.

After a few twists and turns, the cave opened up to a bigger and... more populated area. There were lots of crates and bags around, seemingly making counter high walls between compartment like spaces. There were also some tents with beds and futon in them. A few campfire like flames were around but most were unlit. There was a makeshift bar at a spot surrounded by more crates which served as tables and chairs. There was a torch in each space and people were either sleeping, drinking, chatting, arguing or playing cards.

 **(A/N:** Stereotype warning!... and maybe pedophile warning... maybe :P **)**

Naruto quickly took to sticking to the high ceiling of the cave rather than the ground, since the ceiling was not well-lit like below and was pretty dark. He watched the four from earlier cut through the path and go to the more open back space. The men around them were grinning lecherously at the girl and some were even drooling. 'Yui' herself was disgusted by the environment and silently cursed her boss for making her go through this. She was a nine-year old, damn it!

They went up to a man who was laying with his legs propped up on a crate until he saw the three men and one girl come, which prompted him to put down his legs and sit up in a hunched fashion.

The probable boss of the bandit group was wearing a mesh shirt below a half-torn, ragged and open Konoha chūnin vest. He was wearing black ragged pants and boots. He had a bandana tied to his head and covering his hair. There was a dirty pouch tied to the right of the waist with some kunai poking out of it. The man was around 5'10, moderately fit and in his thirties. Finally, he had a hitai-ate with a slashed Konoha symbol around his left bicep. At the moment, he also had a smug grin on his face.

"Here's the girl, boss. We paid the guy his money since I thought he might be useful to us in the future." the bandit in the middle said, pushing Yui forward while the leader grinned more and got up from his seat.

"Good job." he said simply and stood in front of the trembling girl. He looked down at her and smirked "Nice to meet ya, girlie. Manami Yui, is it?" he asked while the girl nodded shakily.

"Let me tell you the name of your new owner. My name is Kurokage Hotoshi. I'm a C-rank missing nin from Konoha. Do you know why I've had you brought here?" he asked to which the girl shook her head slowly. Naruto widened his eyes and quickly set up a sensor field excluding the missing nin. He didn't want to take any risks right now. He counted about 26 bandits in the cave excluding the leader. He gulped and looked back at the man.

"It's because, you have a very unique condition in your body." he said in a lower voice and continued "You, girlie, have a weird condition where you have near godly chakra control. You can do anything related to chakra perfectly. But, you can only do that for a few seconds. It ain't that you have less chakra. This is because you don't actually use chakra. Instead you use your own body energy. Taking all the energy from your c-celk... cells... whatever they're called. They suck you dry in a matter of seconds." he said while Yui looked at him confused.

"Did you know that your own parents are the people who did this to you?" he asked as the girl widened her eyes while the man smirked. He paced around her slowly taking a good look at her from all angles.

"The both of them were... scientists, of a kind. After you were born, they used you as a test subject. But you know that guy, Deburo? Yeah, your 'father' as you call him. He used to be your caretaker. But three years after your birth, he became 'upset' that you weren't even treated as a human. So... he blew up the place. Everything, along with your 'parents'. Then he adopted you and gave you the surname Manami, in respect to his dead lover or something, I don't really care." he said, and looked amused at the girl whose lower lip was quivering and eyes wide.

"When I found out about your existence, I did everything I could to find you and make you mine. But the bastard Deburo was the most slippery guy I've ever met. He avoided me for six years! Ha! Bravo to him! But then I came particularly close to getting you one year ago. But he again slipped away with you. I looked around for nine months, then I found out you were in Konoha." the man told the girl, who was sniffling lightly.

"But do you know what he did after that? He gave up! Yesterday, he came to my boys and tried to pay them to stay away from him and you. Of course, I wouldn't do that and neither would my boys, so he got a blade to his chest instead. We still kept the money though. Haahahahaha!" he laughed at the slowly sobbing girl.

"Now do you know why I wanted you? It's because with godly chakra control such as yours, you can serve me two purposes. One – you can become the equivalent of a first aid kit for our group. Two – I can use you to improve my own power. You can just tune up my entire system and make me as strong as the Hokage in only a few hours. Your stupid energy problem can be solved with a few drugs. Though I can't say you'll be alive at the end of it. Heh." the man said with a smirk.

"So... let's get you all settled in, shall we?" he said in his normal loud voice, and made to stand tall in front of her with a smug grin on his face.

Suddenly, 'Yui' stopped crying and trembling, while her eyes were shadowed by her bangs. The man raised an eyebrow at her before she raised her head to show her face to him. The man scowled at the sight in front of him. Before him was a tied up emerald-haired girl with a pretty smile on her face looking at him.

"Zan'nen _(Too bad)_ " she said cutely before she started to glow. The man widened his eyes and jumped back quickly, just as the 'girl' exploded violently, throwing the three bandits around her away from her. Then just as sudden, five small puffs of smoke appeared in separate parts of the cave and five more smaller explosions rocked the cave. **(A/N:** Regarding that Japanese word, I only put it there for some people to imagine her in a cute way. Meh, just ignore it. **)**

The bandit leader, sensing some movement, immediately threw a kunai at a part of the ceiling, but the person dodged and dropped to the ground a few feet in front of him.

Hotoshi got a good look at the figure in front of him. He was a child who was more or less 5 years old, had blond hair and three whisker marks on each cheek. Simply said, he was a runt who didn't look the least bit dangerous, excluding the glare the boy held towards him. Hotoshi then smirked at the blond.

"So... All the stuff I said earlier was me talking to you, huh?" he asked amused, while the blond kept up his glare "Looks like you're pretty good, kid. Apparently you know **Bunshin Daibakuha** _**(Clone Great Explosion)**_. Pretty damn good for a 5-year old. But you ain't beating me with just that, brat." he said and dashed towards the boy.

Hotoshi tried to punch the runt's face but the blond jumped and landed on his outstretched arm. Naruto kicked at the man's face who grabbed it with his free arm before it hit and threw the blond down to the ground. Naruto grunted and immediately rolled away from a stomp. He thrust his leg out at the man's shin but said man kicked back, pushing away the blond's kick with his superior physical strength.

Naruto flied away, but flipped and landed safely. He quickly ducked down, barely missing the kunai to his face before he was sent flying away again by a leg to his side which he only just blocked with his arms. He skidded on his feet across the ground then held up a cross seal, making two shadow clones.

 _'Dammit! I'm beginning to hate being a kid.'_ Naruto thought as he took a second to heal his bruises, while sending the clones ahead.

Hotoshi raised an amused eyebrow before blocking a punch to his face from a jumping clone while sidestepping to avoid the other. He back kicked the clone, dispelling it as he grabbed the other and threw it towards the original. The clone dispelled itself in a puff of smoke just before it collided as a bottle came flying towards Hotoshi through the smoke. The man caught it and threw it back at the smoke and heard it shatter on the ground.

Naruto jumped out of the smoke with his right hand cocked back. Hotoshi moved to intercept it before he noticed the slight blue glow on the boy's palm. The man widened his eyes while he crossed his arms in defense as the boy thrust his palm out.

" **Fūton: Reppūshō** _**(Wind Release: Gale Palm)**_ " A strong wind erupted from Naruto's palm and sent the man flying. Hotoshi grunted as he crashed through a crate and skidded on the ground on his back before he quickly rolled back into a standing position. He spit out some saliva with a tinge of red as he glared at the blond, but then smirked.

"You're good, kid. Far better than any damn five year old I know. But not good enough. Damn. I can't believe I have to stay on guard against a brat. Now, while I want to kick the snot out of you, my buddies here want to do the same thing." he said as the other bandits came between the two. One of them smirked and ran towards the boy with his sword raised high.

Naruto narrowed his eyes and sidestepped the sloppy move while he jumped up and spun around, back-heeling the man's face and sending him tumbling along the ground. The moment he landed, a kunai rushed through and struck his left shoulder. Naruto cursed his carelessness as he pulled out the kunai and gripped his shoulder, while Kurama's chakra already started healing the wound. He glared at the smirking bandits as they walked towards him while Hotoshi patted his kunai pouch and folded his arms, his usual smug grin back on his face.

Naruto was in no position to fight right now. He may be strong and have super-regeneration, but he was still a 5-year old and was quickly running out of energy. He was panting heavily already and could only barely stand.

 _'Kurama. How long can my body sustain a tail-less cloak?'_

The fox frowned and replied to the blond _**"Five seconds. Ten seconds at the most. Then you'd probably go into a coma for a short while. Your physical body is still weak and can't handle that much power."**_

 _'Damn it! What do I do? Come on, come on, come on! What do I-'_ Naruto stopped as he sensed a very familiar chakra enter his field.

One of the bandits walked up to him as he held his axe high. "Game over, brat." he said as he swung it down.

" **Raikiri** _**(Lightning Cutter)**_ " Naruto's super-enhanced hearing, further enhanced by the current adrenaline in his body, barely heard the angry whisper that came from the entrance of the cave. In an instant of hearing it, a familiar loud crackling noise sounded throughout the cave as the bandit's weapon arm was ripped off by a bright bluish white light and the bandit was sent flying into the cave wall by a leg. Naruto widened his eyes and looked in awe at the figure in front of him.

Gray body armor, black ANBU pants and black shinobi sandals, with a tantō strapped to the back. But most of all, two features immediately caught his eye. A dog mask and gravity defying silver hair. No doubt about it. This was...

Kakashi.

Hatake Kakashi. His old teacher and the man who became the Sixth Hokage. His father's disciple and one of his most favored people. The man who took him and two others he knew very well as his students. This was... 'Sharingan no Kakashi' _(Kakashi of the Sharingan)_.

The dog masked ANBU stood in front of the barely standing boy, facing to the side. He turned to the blond and frowned at the blood from his shoulder.

"You alright, Naruto?" he asked with a neutral voice, masking his worry. But the blond knew that he was worried and was trying to hide it. He smiled inwardly at his actions. It made him happy to know that Kakashi was worried about him even if he was trying to hide it, but still slipped it by calling by his first name. But he pushed aside the thought and replied to the man.

"Y-Yes, Dog-san. A kunai... hit my shoulder and it bled out a little... But it's getting better, kind of." Naruto said in between quick breaths, being careful not to reveal that he already knew about his tenant and his powers.

The man nodded and turned to the crowd, while another man dropped down beside the two. Naruto turned his head and looked at the second arrival. The same ANBU armor with black pants and sandals, but with a weasel mask and black hair tied into a small ponytail. Naruto easily recognized him and was inwardly shocked to see him again... alive. It was obvious but it was still somewhat shocking.

Itachi.

Uchiha Itachi. The famed murderer of his own clan in the future and the prodigy of the clan in the present. Brother of Uchiha Sasuke and son of the current clan head, Uchiha Fugaku and Uchiha Mikoto. The second sharingan user in the Akatsuki and once the object of his brother's hatred.

The weasel-masked ANBU looked significantly younger than the one Naruto had seen in his time. Right now, he looked around 12 years old.

He turned to the blond and looked at the shoulder injury. He just stared at the boy's panting form from behind his mask. He then put his hand to his pouch and fished out a small pouch. He opened it and took out a pill and put away his pouch. He handed the pill to the blond, who was just looking at him.

"Soldier pill. Eat it. You'll feel a little less tired." he said to the boy. Naruto knew what it was already, though he just nodded and took it, then ate it. Naruto was channeling chakra through his entire body through the whole fight and hence he had lost quite a bit of chakra. Add a few flashy jutsu into the mix and you get an exhausted child as a result. In a few seconds, he felt a lot less tired and was at least in a position to run away now. Not that he would ever do that.

The black haired young man nodded to him, then turned to the bandit threat. Both of the ANBU were ready to engage before Naruto called out to them.

"ANBU-san..." he called out to them together as they turned to look at the blond "The leader of those bandits is a guy named Kurokage Hotoshi. He said he's a C-rank missing nin from Konoha, and he's the guy that threw the kunai to my shoulder." Naruto said pointing to the far back of the bandits. The two ANBU looked towards the back of the crowd and indeed saw the wanted bingo book bounty head, glaring at the trio.

"Itachi..." the dog-masked ANBU started but was cut off by the weasel-masked ANBU.

"I know, taichō _(captain)_. I'll take out the legs, you go for the head." he said while the other nodded.

The silver-haired man turned to the young blond "Stay here, kid." he said while the blond nodded, then went and took cover behind a crate wall.

The two ANBU turned back to the bandit crowd and released their pent-up killing intent. The bandits all widened their eyes and started to tremble, and even Hotoshi had a drop of sweat sliding down the side of his face at the intensity of the two.

"Don't think you're getting out of this alive." both of them said in unison, as Itachi dashed forward and punched the bandit nearest to him in the face as he jumped onto the shoulder of another and leaped into the air. He quickly formed some hand seals and took a deep breath.

" **Katon: Gokakyū no Jutsu** _**(Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique)**_ " Barely a moment later, a giant fireball came rushing down towards the bandits. All of them panicked and tried to run away but couldn't do that because of crowding the area so much. The fireball fell and devastated the majority of them while a few were lucky enough to be on the edges of the crowd. Ultimately, more than half of them were burned alive while the others got away with a few minor burns.

With the way clear, Kakashi rushed into the fray, jumping over the burnt bodies as he went straight for the missing nin. Hotoshi hastily threw a kunai at him and rushed forward behind it with another kunai in hand. Kakashi bent slightly to the side to avoid it then locked blades with the bandit leader.

"Kurokage Hotoshi. C-rank missing nin of Konoha. Wanted for attempted theft of secret clan techniques. You are not going to live to see another day." the dog-masked ANBU said ominously as both of them jumped back.

Kakashi dashed forward the instant he touched the ground. Hotoshi ducked and barely dodged his tantō over his head but was unable to dodge the fast knee to his face. He stumbled backwards and hurriedly sidestepped the incoming thrust kick and threw his own high kick. Kakashi grabbed it with his free left arm and quickly stabbed it with his tantō. Hotoshi gave a small shout and threw his kunai at the ANBU's left arm as Kakashi released the leg and jumped to the side while Hotoshi jumped back. The bandit leader crouched down and held his leg while glaring at his opponent.

Meanwhile, Itachi was zipping across the space slashing and stabbing the remaining bandits, leaving none alive. Naruto _almost_ gagged at the sight of burnt bodies and blood flying everywhere but covered his mouth and focused on the silver-haired man's fight instead.

Hotoshi tried to reach for a nearby sword but had to withdraw his hand to avoid a shuriken that came flying to it. He fell to the ground on his back to avoid another tantō slash to his neck and thrust his leg towards his opponent's stomach. Kakashi blocked it with his left arm as he kicked it away with his right leg. Hotoshi rotated on the ground due to the force and Kakashi stabbed his left shoulder with his tantō. The victim screamed in pain as he thrashed around... or tried to. He saw that his hands and legs were pinned to the ground by kunai, and he screamed again from the collective pain.

Kakashi looked at the bleeding shoulder and narrowed his eyes behind his mask. _'Shoulder...'_ He twisted his blade in it and listened to the bandit leader's shouts. Kakashi stomped on his chest and silenced his screams. The dog-masked ANBU turned his head to look at the missing nin's face and shifted the blade from the shoulder to his neck.

"Any last words?" he asked ominously.

Hotoshi coughed and spit out some blood. He stopped his struggles and looked at his opponent, then turned to look at the blond who was coming towards the two. Naruto stopped a small distance from them and looked at the bandit leader. Hotoshi stared at him for a few seconds, then turned his head to look straight at the ceiling of the cave.

"I've been chasing that girl for six years. Her dad was always on edge and the both of them couldn't ever live normally thanks to me." he said and noticed the boy clenching his fist.

"Kid... If you meet the girl... tell her this..." he closed his eyes and spoke in a soft voice "You're free."

Naruto stared at the man, loosening his fist then took a deep breath "I will."

Kakashi glanced at the blond and saw that he was watching the scene intently. He breathed out and then cut through the man's neck. Naruto grimaced at the sight, then closed his eyes and turned away with a gulp. He turned around and walked towards Itachi who had finished gathering all the valuables in the cave in storage scrolls and was preparing to leave. The silver-haired man cauterized the bleeding neck and quickly stored the head in a storage scroll. He used a small fire jutsu to burn the body and walked back to the other two.

* * *

Coming out of the cave, they saw that it was now raining heavily. They decided to wait until the rain lessened a bit. Naruto asked the two ANBU on what happened to the trade caravan, to which they told him that they were already gone by the time the two arrived. They had noticed a sudden stop in the chakra trail and found evidence of a struggle leading through the forest instead. So they had followed the trail to the cave where they arrived just in time to help him.

Nearly an hour later, the rain turned into a drizzle so they decided to head back. Though when they turned to the boy, they found him asleep leaning to the wall. Both of them glanced at each other and Itachi asked Kakashi to do the honors to which he snorted and walked to the boy and kneeled down.

Kakashi realized then that he could finally do one of the things he wanted to do for five years. He removed his mask and pulled up his headband to reveal his blood red eye with three black tomoe surrounding a black pupil.

He extended his hand towards the boy and... patted the boy's head gently. Kakashi never had the time to spend time with his sensei's son ever since his death and the boy's birth. So now that he had the chance to do so, he wanted to make the most of it without disturbing the boy from his sleep, and burn the moment into his memory with his sharingan. His hand slid down the young blond's face and caressed his cheek as his expression softened. Naruto unconsciously leaned into the touch and smiled slightly in his sleep.

A lone tear went down Kakashi's cheek from his own eye as he rubbed it away and pulled down his headband over his left eye. He put on his mask again and gently picked the boy up and put him to his back, wrapping his arms and legs around his own body. He took out and put on his white cloak over the boy, as Itachi put on his own.

Unknown to the two ANBU, Naruto and his goddess were observing the entire thing from the mindscape, sitting on the grass with their legs outstretched and hands beside them on the grass. Naruto looked up to the starry sky and closed his eyes with a smile on his face. The goddess was right beside him as she also smiled and brought him into a hug.

* * *

The trip back home was fairly uneventful as they skipped across the trees, on their way straight to Konoha. Once they reached the village and subsequently the Hokage tower just past midnight, Kakashi let the boy down who woke up shortly afterwards. Naruto looked at him as he just pointed to the stairs leading to the Hokage office. Naruto nodded and followed the two ANBU up the stairs and into the office.

But before they could reach there, the silver-haired ANBU put a hand into his pocket and pulled out a plain silver locket, and handed it to the boy. Naruto looked at it in curiously before opening it, and saw the photo of a rather chubby man in his thirties and a young emerald-haired girl. Naruto widened his eyes and snapped his head at Kakashi who was already walking again. The blond smiled and pocketed the accessory before following the two again.

"Reporting the mission as a success, Hokage-sama." the dog-masked ANBU stated to their village leader. The Hokage nodded and asked for the details. So they spent the next few minutes reporting the details and the actions they took with regards to the mission, also giving him the scrolls containing the cave's treasures. The old Hokage glanced at the boy at the mention of the chakra trail, but both of them didn't say anything. In the end, the Hokage simply nodded and gave them an acknowledgment document.

"You have indeed successfully completed the given A-rank mission. You may receive your payment by presenting that document at the mission counter below. Though I suggest that you do so tomorrow. It would be rude to wake someone up just to ask for money." he said while the two ANBU chuckled somewhat formally.

"You may avail the bounty on Kurokage Hotoshi at your own leisure. For now, you are dismissed." the two of them bowed to the Hokage then walked towards the door. They took one last glance at the blond boy who wished them a good night, as they nodded in reply and went out. But the silver-haired ANBU stared at the Hokage from the door, who nodded and gestured his hands in a way that said to come the next day.

The Hokage then turned to the boy who shook his head slightly and quickly turned his eyes to three positions in the room. The older man took the hint and gestured his personal ANBU to leave the room, which they did, as he quickly activated the privacy seal.

Naruto then told his jii-chan his version of the mission, which basically meant retelling all the events of the entire day. Him discovering about the kidnapping, taking his sister's place, leaving the chakra trail, going to the bandit hideout, facing the missing nin, the story about his sister's past, all the way until the part where Kakashi and Itachi had arrived, not leaving out a single detail.

"Yes, Naruto-kun. I have heard of that lab explosion incident as well. I will ask the best doctors in Konoha to check up on her, though I have a feeling that the damage is already done. Still, I congratulate you on a job well done, Naruto-kun. You were a quite a bit reckless in your endeavor, but still did a good job. I will reward you with a B-rank mission payment for your services unofficially. You may come and collect it tomorrow from me personally." he said while Naruto nodded, with a grin on his face.

"Also Naruto-kun, I have a question for you. Keep in mind that this is only a question." he said in a serious tone to which Naruto nodded "After hearing about and myself seeing some of your abilities, what would you say if I were to offer you a chance to take the genin test and let you become a genin right now?"

"I'd refuse it immediately." Naruto replied instantly with no hesitation. The old Hokage blinked at the boy who then continued "There are three reasons that I say this. One – If I decide to take you up on that offer, the idiots from the council would eat your head over your decision." he said as the Hokage rubbed his temples in irritation at the very thought.

"Two – If I wait and become a genin the usual way, I'd have more time to train and make myself stronger before going out into that world. In other words, I'd be safer." he said and the Hokage nodded again, pleased with his forethought.

"Three – I want to spend more time with my friends while I'm still young." he said as both his and his jii-chan's face softened. The Hokage nodded and smiled, very pleased with his surrogate grandson's thoughts. He got up and went around the desk. He grabbed Naruto into a small hug which the boy returned with full force. After releasing each other, Hiruzen gave the boy a piece of information.

"You better go home now, Naruto-kun. I am sure that your sister is worried sick about you. I paid her a visit earlier and told her you'd come home soon. I believe it is best if you do just that." he told the boy who instantly perked up and looked at the wall clock which showed a half past midnight. He hurriedly said his good byes and good nights, and ran out of the office disabling the privacy barrier in the process.

The Hokage watched the boy go, then sighed and went out himself. He locked the door and activated the security seals before leaving.

"Neko _(Cat)_ " the Hokage called out suddenly as an ANBU with a cat-mask and long silky purple hair appeared. She seemed to be about 11-12 years old and was rather... curvaceous as well. Despite being so young, she had the body of a person 2 or 3 years older.

"Hokage-sama."

"Make sure Naruto-kun gets home safely." he said and walked off. Neko or Uzuki Yūgao's face softened behind her mask as she headed out onto the rooftops to secretly ensure the boy's safe arrival to his home.

* * *

Naruto reached the closed vegetable shop and made his way up the stairs. He stood in front of the door and took a deep breath. He prepared himself and... was tackled to the ground in a bone-crushing hug.

"Naru-kun! You're back! You're really back!" Yui exclaimed while hugging the life out of Naruto.

"Y-Yeah Yui-neechan. I'm back. Now... could you please stop hugging me to death?" he managed to say as she loosened her grip but didn't bother letting go. Yūgao looked at the scene and couldn't help but smile, before disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

"I'm sorry. I was scared that you were gone... that you abandoned me too, Naru-kun." she said softly. The boy noticed her altered use of his name but decided to not comment on it at the moment.

Naruto shook his head and hugged her back before getting her to stand up, but she still wouldn't let go of him but was now hugging him from behind "I'd never do that, neechan. Never ever. On that note, your father didn't do that either." he said as she looked at him in shock. Naruto sighed and led her inside the house to the living room where they sat on the couch, with Yui still holding him on her lap.

Naruto then proceeded to recite to her a _very_ dumbed down version of his day's activities. Mainly, he told her about her ability, her past and her father. Needless to say, she was shocked beyond belief and supremely angry towards her biological parents. Naruto calmed her down then finally told her the bandit leader's final words. At the end of it all, she was sobbing hard, but Naruto took out and handed to her the locket that Kakashi gave him. Yui widened her eyes and instantly snatched from him and opened it. She sobbed even harder while apologizing to her dead father for ever doubting him as she hugged the locket in her hands.

While that was going on, the locket that Yui was wearing from the morning glowed briefly. In a while, Yui's sobs turned into sniffles as they both went to bed. Both of them had enough for the day, and all they wanted was a good night of sleep.

Yui had placed her father's locket on the table in front of a small framed photo of him. As they both went to bed, neither of them noticed the slight glow from the locket on the table. If one were to observe both the lockets now, they would find that the people in the photo were smiling even happier than before.

* * *

 **A/N:** And that's a wrap.

This is my very first time writing a fight scene and I tried to make it seem okay. I know it needs some work and I'll do my best with that. Also note that here, Kakashi was overpowering him simply because he was faster than the bandit. And he was still holding back. He hadn't used his sharingan either. Just goes to show you the power of an enraged Kakashi. On the other hand, I intended Hotoshi to be a weak-ass and just get steamrolled. The only reason he was even remotely deserving of his rank was because of his _attempted_ crime.

In the end, Hotoshi was a just a stereotypical bad guy but with a soft...er heart upon his death.

 **EDIT (21/10/2016):** A reviewer pointed out my use of the words 'shout', 'yell', etc... when mentioning jutsu names. Honestly, I actually didn't notice that I'd typed that. I myself don't like illogical things like shouting out names, so I fixed that to a level that I hope is acceptable.

Anyway, leave a **REVIEW** below, with your opinion of events. Blaze out!


	4. Friends and Family

**Author's Note (A/N):** Hello again everyone!

Some info regarding Yui: I don't know how you people imagined Yui, but my mental image was of a more graceful child form of the Yui from To Love Ru, except with the hair and eye color of Fubuki from One Punch Man. Of course, my Yui is not nearly as flustered as Kotegawa and actually quite calm. So yeah, food for thought.

Next up, sorry for making this chapter shorter than usual. My 10k per chapter motto has already been broken twice now. I'm ashamed of myself.

Now, on to the story!

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto. If I did, I'd be rich and I wouldn't be going to college. This fanfic would never exist since I'd name it as a continuation of the story and publish it. Aaand get axed from the comics.

* * *

Chapter 4: Friends and Family

Ten months. That is the time that has passed since the incident involving Yui and Naruto. Naruto's edited story of him 'innocently' trying to make sure his sister would be safe had spread across the village. The residents of their neighborhood (aka the market district) praised the young boy for his actions, though most of them scolded him for doing so. A 5-year old recklessly hitching a ride on a criminal caravan to prevent future incidents is by all means stupid, no matter the reasoning.

Though in Naruto's opinion, he thought that he acted a little too quickly, not stupidly. One does not simply classify the actions of a 40-year old war hero as simply stupid, but instead as poorly planned. Too bad no one knows he's mentally that old.

Because of this rumor, his reputation in the village as a whole improved… a little. His neighborhood residents now treated Naruto as the 'little brother idol' who cares very much for his sister. And hence, they're friendly with him. With the other villagers, there wasn't too much difference. There were of course a few occasional curious and even respectful glances at him, but the majority still either glared at him or remained apathetic.

The unspoken agreement between the adult villagers was that they would make sure the rumors of Naruto's actions don't spread to the younger generation. While a very few rare families wanted their children to still not like him, most of them didn't want their children to develop any hero complexes. That would be quite troublesome to put up with and Naruto himself was thankful for that unspoken agreement. And since the rumors hadn't spread to the kids, Naruto's friends all treated him as usual.

On that matter, Naruto's group had grown to consist of all members of the original Rookie 9 in his past life. The former genin group consisted of the members of Team 7, Team 8 and Team 10 in its heyday. Since Naruto had first befriended the Ino-Shika-Cho trio and Sakura, he only needed to find Kiba, Shino, Hinata and finally Sasuke.

Kiba, Shino and Hinata were all rather easy to find and induct into his little group. Though Hinata was a strange case at the time.

Naruto had found the white-eyed girl being bullied by the same three damn kids who were doing the same to Sakura a few months ago. Since he wanted to polish his old prank skills, he diligently took the time to get rid of them the hard way. A quick application of **Kage Bunshin** and **Henge** helped contribute to the appearance of the famed 'Bear-Panda' from his time. Of course the so-called ninja academy students had gone white when the beast roared right by their ears. That day, the people around Konoha watched as a strange beast chased three kids around the village before disappearing mysteriously.

When Naruto tried to get to know the girl though, he completely froze as he heard Hinata call him 'niisan'. He tried to get her to stop but to no avail. But a small 'talk' with his laughing inner goddess suddenly stopped that strange phenomenon the next day. Said 'talk' consisted of the goddess being chased around the mindscape by a giant fox with the blond sitting on its head, waving a stick around while cackling madly.

After solving that little problem, Naruto spent the next three months training himself into the ground. It got to the point that he was visibly tired every time he came to the park to spend time with his friends, which was a big deal since he was the very definition of a ball of energy.

Naruto had two reasons for his sudden dedication to extreme training. One was that he realized that he was subconsciously taking it easy the past few days before meeting Hotoshi. He cursed himself for letting that happen and growing soft due to the many years of peace he spent as an adult. Ever since then, he did not take it easy in any way imaginable.

The second reason was that he wanted to be satisfyingly strong for his first meeting with Sasuke. Naruto knew that he wouldn't need it that much, since he vaguely remembered that Sasuke didn't have a stick in his ass until after the Uchiha Massacre. Before that tragic event, Sasuke used to be a normal cheerful boy… kind of.

So, Naruto went to meet his best friend after his training was done.

* * *

 _ **Flashback - Five months ago**_

 _It was the nearing the start of summer and hot days were beginning to become normal in Konoha. At the moment, Naruto was traversing through the village with a specific destination in mind._

 _The blond had remembered that prior to the infamous massacre of the Uchiha clan, Sasuke was always lonely since his father used to focus on his prodigious brother Itachi. Sasuke would usually come to the lake in the village and just sit there by himself having nothing to do. With that bit of knowledge, the lake was where Naruto was going at the moment._

 _And sure enough, he was there. By the time Naruto reached the lake in the late afternoon, he saw a raven-haired boy wearing a black high-collar shirt and white shorts sitting at the edge of the pier swinging his legs while watching the calm waters._

 _That was him, Uchiha Sasuke. The younger brother of the clan murderer Itachi and the second most powerful ninja in the world by the age of 30. He used to be equal in power with the Seventh Hokage, but was surpassed when Naruto decided to pick up heavy training once more after the events with Momoshiki._

 _Naruto walked down silently and stared at the raven-haired boy's back. The blond silently walked towards the shore and picked up a dozen smooth stones. He came back holding the stones in his hands then abruptly seated himself about a foot away beside Sasuke._

 _The black-eyed boy twitched in surprise and turned to the new arrival beside him. The blue-eyed boy gave him a grin and placed the stones between the two of them in a heap._

 _The lad watched curiously as the blond picked up one of the stones and threw them towards the lake. The stone skipped two times on the water before it sank into it. Naruto placed his fists on his hips and turned to the other boy, giving off an aura which practically just exuded the thought 'Try and beat that!'._

 _Not one to turn down a challenge, the other boy smirked and picked up a stone, throwing it into the lake. Though unfortunately for him, the stone only skipped once before sinking into the lake. The boy looked shocked and turned to the blond who grew an even longer proverbial long nose._

 _He grit his teeth and tossed another stone, which skipped four times before sinking. At that, both of the boys gaped and looked at each other before the raven-haired boy grew his own long nose. The blond smirked before continuing their impromptu stone skipping fight. When they ran out of stones, both of them jumped off the pier and gathered more before continuing._

 _After half an hour of vigorous stone tossing, both of them tied at nine skips and agreed to end their battle. The dark-eyed boy had his hands on his knees and panting while the blond was standing straight with only a little faster breathing. After both calmed down, the blond extended a hand to the other boy._

 _"My name's Uzumaki Naruto." he said with a grin._

 _The other boy took his hand and gave him a small smile, which almost caught Naruto off guard since he hadn't really seen his best friend smile genuinely from his heart._

 _"I'm Uchiha Sasuke."_

 _Naruto nodded and the both spent a small amount of time getting to know each other, sitting on the pier idly swinging their legs. Thanks to Sasuke's depression because of his father not paying him any attention, he was pretty quick to tell Naruto about that and why he always spent his time at the lake. Naruto learned that Sasuke didn't have any friends his age and the people he did know were adults who were always busy. At the end of that, Naruto invited him to come to his usual park the next day to which Sasuke gleefully agreed._

 _After all was said and done, both of them got up when they saw that it was getting dark._

 _"So I'll see you tomorrow at the park, yeah?"_

 _"Of course!" the Uchiha boy said and started to jog away back home. He turned back while going and waved to the blond "See you tomorrow, Naruto!"_

 _Naruto waved back at him "You too. Bye, Sasuke!" he shouted as the other boy went out of sight. Naruto brought his arm down while lowering his head and smiling_ '-teme'

 _The bijū inside him snorted at his thoughts_ **"You still call him that, huh? I thought you'd have gotten over it by now."**

'Shut up, furball. Don't ruin the beautiful moment. I was getting nostalgic over here.'

 _Kurama gained a tick mark on his head and growled lowly_ **"And it seems you haven't gotten over that either. Maybe I should go back to calling you 'puny human' again. How about it?"**

'Okay okay. Sorry, Kurama. But you know what I mean. It's been a long time since I've seen my best friend, after all. Even before I came here, he hadn't returned to the village for a few years.'

 _The orange fox huffed and sat down before going back to sleep. Though Naruto could almost_ feel _that the fox had a smirk on his face. So he just smirked in reply._

 _The goddess just watched the interaction between the human and the bijū with open interest. This is one of the reasons that she liked this particular boy/man. Naruto was one of the purest souls she knew and he was even able to turn a creature of hatred like Kurama into his most trusted comrade. The two had a bond that surpassed even the ones that other jinchūriki had with their own bijū. He has power that no one else has, yet he doesn't abuse it. He is always selfless and puts his friends' opinions first and foremost._

 **'Hago-kun would be so proud. Oh wait, he** _ **was**_ **proud. Naruto-kun already met him.'**

 _The goddess chuckled happily which seemed to confuse Naruto._

'What happened, Kami-chan?'

 _The beautiful violet-haired goddess shook her head at her host's concerns_ **"It's nothing, Naruto-kun. Nothing at all."**

 _Naruto blinked at her behavior, then just shrugged and walked back to his own home._

 _The day after, Sasuke had come to the park along with Naruto who introduced him to everyone. He noticed that all of them looked at the blond in awe. Though he didn't understand immediately, he quickly realized that they were awed because their newest friend was an Uchiha and was also the son of the clan head. Being one of the strongest clans in the village counts for something after all, even though they blissfully forgot that they were clan heirs as well._

 _Naruto had a worry when he brought Sasuke to his friends. In particular, he was worried about the girls. He was pretty sure Hinata wouldn't care that much, but what concerned him were Ino and Sakura. He was worried that they might get infatuated by Sasuke and things might turn out like before with the two of them becoming some kind of rivals and always fighting with each other._

 _The boys didn't act much different with Sasuke and Hinata greeted him normally. Though Naruto was surprised and relieved that Ino did the same as well. She just introduced herself casually without even blinking._

 _When it was Sakura's turn, she just looked at Sasuke then at Naruto then back to Sasuke. She looked between the two a few times before fainting and falling unconscious. Naruto had to stifle a laugh when she fainted and the others were panicking as to what happened. But one look at Sasuke stopped his laughter and his face became one of shock._

 _Sasuke was trying, and failing horribly, to suppress a blush when he saw Sakura. After she had woken up, the two were talking to each other in whispers with both of them having red cheeks. Naruto saw that the pink-haired girl was constantly glancing towards himself as well._

 _Contrary to popular belief, Naruto was_ not _an idiot. At least not now, now that he's mentally 40-years old and well-experienced in almost everything, including love. He realized that Sakura was having doubts and was trying to decide between him and Sasuke. Naruto understood her thoughts and he decided to just give her some time to find the answer herself._ **(A/N:** Do NOT jump to conclusions about anything please. If you have doubts, wait for future chapters. **)**

 _ **Flashback - End**_

* * *

Naruto also tried to find the three members of Team 8. He did find Tenten who 'coincidentally' happened to be the daughter of the ninja shop owner, Shigure. Though he had befriended her, she was just too damn infatuated with her glorified teddy bears to even notice his presence most of the time… (In case you didn't understand that, I was talking about the weapons in the store)

He bumped into Neji one day on the street but all thoughts of getting to know him were immediately squashed when he heard the white-eyed boy utter the word 'Fate' repeatedly. And within the next few seconds, the blond was nowhere to be seen anywhere near there. _That_ problem was one that Naruto planned to solve some other time.

Rock Lee's situation was a lot more simpler. He was nowhere to be found, simple as that. Naruto idly concluded that the boy must be climbing some mountain with a boulder tied to his back. He'd find him once the academy started.

Naruto was also pleased that some of the games that his group of friends play now revolve around imitating ninja. The blond decided to subtly help them out by changing the rules which made the game still look normal but also doubled as very light training, physically and mentally. Though the other eight kids never really understood why the blond was _just a little_ better than them at all the games. When they actually asked him about it, he already had his answer ready.

Because he's awesome. Period.

* * *

Back in the present, Naruto was sleeping peacefully in the bed in his house. As rays of light penetrated through the curtains and started to light up the room, Naruto groggily rubbed his eyes and yawned.

For some reason, he had a really good feeling about today. He didn't know why either, he just felt good. Naruto slowly tried to sit up but saw that he couldn't. Looking down, he saw that he was being held onto by his emerald-haired sister, Yui.

That was another thing. Naruto noticed at first that Yui was kind of nervous around him. She couldn't look at him in the eye while speaking and stuttered sometimes. But luckily enough, that stopped after a few days. She now treated him as a normal younger brother. Naruto was eternally thankful to whatever godlike being overseeing his life (me) that his relationship with her didn't go beyond that. It'd be beyond awkward if that did happen. She was still a little clingy though, but he didn't mind that.

Naruto tried to pry Yui off of him but to no avail. Being a ninja for a very long time, it didn't take long for his mind to kick-start itself in the mornings. A good ninja would be alert even while asleep. So with his mind at full focus, he looked at his sister's face. She was making a very faint snoring sound, while having a divinely calm face. He smiled at her before he moved his hand and poked her cheek a few times.

"Wake up, neechan. It's morning."

Yui groaned and stirred while her eyes fluttered open and immediately saw the amused smile on her younger brother's face. She huffed slightly and let go of him, before sitting up herself and stretching her arms above her head. Done with that, she turned to the young blond and quickly glomped him from his side in a hug.

Definitely a little clingy.

"Good morning, Naru-kun."

Naruto shook his head with a smile, while doing so induced a giggle from his sister since her face was right on top of his spiky hair and was tickling her face. Eventually, the both of them let go and went around doing their own thing. With breakfast finished, both of them set off to their respective works, Naruto's training and Yui's shopkeeping.

* * *

When Naruto arrived at his usual spot, Training Ground 42, he put up his hands in the cross seal and made 200 shadow clones, a feat achieved with his increased chakra reserves and some of his tenant's chakra. They immediately set off to their training, while being divided into three groups of 150, 40 and 10.

The larger group put all their effort into various chakra control exercises. The reason for this was his temporary goal, which was to gain as good control as possible _before_ his reserves became giant. He figured that if his control was satisfyingly good before his reserves expanded, then it'd be relatively easier to improve it again once it degrades after the expansion of his chakra coils.

All around the grounds, a number of identical blond kids were running upside down under tree branches with rocks or leaves sticking to their body, some of them fighting each other on the water surface nearby with some more rocks or leaves stuck to their body, while some were even running around the ground with basketball-sized stones stuck under their feet. The original Naruto was also doing the same, albeit with his gravity seals active and amped to two times normal gravity and some weights on his wrists and ankles. Simply said, this was the kind of training that'd make a certain green-clad jōnin have an orgasm.

The second group was in charge of brainstorming new fūinjutsu seals and refining old ones. Naruto found that he didn't exactly have the time to make five gravity seals by himself so he pushed his insecurity sense to the side and had enlisted the help of his clones. With his first project in this new timeline finished, he didn't want to waste his knowledge so he put some clones to the task of inventing new useful seals and improving normal or commonly used ones. He did have some ideas in his head and the clones were using those and experimenting with it. Small explosions had become the norm in the training ground because of that.

The last group was dedicated to foraging food and looking after the small garden in the grounds. Their work was relatively easier and slow, so they usually sit around reading up on any subjects he deemed necessary. Mainly they just read advanced cooking books, books on gardening, foraging and hunting. For some reason, his cooking skills had shot through the roof the past months because now, he could make 'normal' dishes seem like God's gifts to mankind. Yui had helped him in the beginning but now she tries her active best to find some excuse to ask him to make the food.

Even with all the heavy duty training he was doing, Naruto was _still_ feeling good. He didn't know why yet but he kept getting the feeling that something good would happen today. He finished his lunch and recreated the clones before going off to his usual park.

* * *

After a while of playing (subtle training) with his friends, Naruto suddenly froze when he was watching over the others just lazing about. His eyes went wide and he turned to Sasuke who was sitting beside him, idly tossing and catching a rubber ball.

"What's today's date?!"

Sasuke jumped in surprise at the voice next to him before he looked at his blond friend with a quizzical expression "October 8th. Why?"

Naruto smiled warmly before he leaned back on the bench they were sitting on with his arms spread, which seemed to further confuse Sasuke and also the others who had now turned to the direction of the two.

"So the day after tomorrow is my birthday, huh?"

All of their eyes widened, well, except maybe Shikamaru and Shino, before they started a telepathic conversation with each other. Even though they were still kids, they were still children who belonged to ninja clans, except Sakura but her intelligence makes up for that. They had noticed the glares their 'group leader' received whenever they went outside the park to some other places. But since the person in question didn't mind, they didn't either. They had a bad feeling about the date October 10th as well and were mentally thinking of what they could do for the blond.

While all of the others were busy defying common sense with their telepathy, Naruto's head was filled with completely different thoughts.

 _'So that's why.'_ he thought with a touch of melancholy.

 _ **"Yeah. I sense him too."**_ the fox snorted _**"Some spymaster he is. Both of us detected him rather easily."**_

 _'He's not putting his best effort into hiding. After all, he's just observing a bunch of kids.'_

Kurama snorted again, then gained a toothy smirk _**"Observing the one kid who could give his hiding skills a run for their money. But yeah, I get it."**_ he said before turning silent and gaining a more serious look _**"So how much are you going to tell him?"**_

Naruto let his eyes wander around the trees surrounding the park until he caught a sort of distortion on a random branch. He kept his eyes on the air above the branch which seemed like a camouflage of sorts and cracked a small smile at it. His enhanced eyes caught the tiny movement in the upper part of the distortion which he deduced was the widening of eyes.

 _'The time travel situation first. Then I plan on giving him some hints to some events and try to improve the outcome.'_

Kurama observed his host for a moment before nodding and getting back to his own devices. The violet-haired goddess stayed silent throughout the entire conversation, since she knew about her host's feelings towards the man in question. She decided not to interfere in this case.

"Hey guys." all the others turned to look at the blond who called them "I got some work to take care of with jii-chan, so I'll be leaving a little early today. I'll see you guys tomorrow." he said and got off the bench, before silently walking out of the park.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at his first real friend since he had a weird feeling that something was going on. But he shook away the thoughts and got back to the others who were talking animatedly now about what to do the day after tomorrow.

* * *

While on his way to the Hokage tower, Naruto created and instantly dispelled a shadow clone, the action sending orders to the clones at the training ground to dispel themselves. After making an appointment at the front desk with the secretary, he waited for a few minutes.

The inside of his head was a whirlpool at the moment. He was reliving his memories with his once-upon-a-time teacher. Happiness, sadness, anticipation, fear and many other emotions were swirling around in his head. To hell with his mental age! He was going to meet one of his most precious persons who he cared for and who had died an undeserving death. He hadn't even said good bye to him the last time he had seen him in his past life. His death had affected the blond even more than that of his jii-chan.

Now… he was going to meet the same man once again.

Once the secretary gave him the clear to go in, Naruto got up and walked to the Hokage office. He stood in front of the double doors and took a deep breath.

"Come in."

Naruto didn't even think about how the man inside knew before he pushed the door open. He entered slowly and closed the door as he walked to the center of the room.

Hiruzen looked up to see that his surrogate grandson was just standing silently with his head lowered a little so as to let his bangs shadow his eyes. He had an idea of what this was about so he steeled himself for the upcoming conversation. He gestured for the ANBU in the room to leave, which they did immediately, before he turned back to the blond.

"Call him in."

Sarutobi blinked at the boy before he nodded. He assumed the boy already knew of the other man's arrival and the Hokage had already asked him to prepare himself for a talk. He turned to the open window in the room and looked at it for a second before a figure jumped through it into the room.

The man that just entered was over six feet tall, with long spiky white hair that looked like a mane yet in a weird ponytail fashion and extended near his thighs. He was wearing a kind of green and red kabuki clothes and red geta on his feet. He also had a headband with the kanji for 'Oil' on it, signifying his affiliation with the toads of Mount Myōboku.

Jiraiya stood tall and looked at the young blond who was facing his direction but still had his eyes shadowed.

"Hey there kid! I am the one and only-" he didn't even get to properly start his usual glorious introduction before he was tackled in the stomach by a yellow bullet. He stumbled back a step before seeing that the child who was standing in the center of the room a moment ago was now stuck to him like he was pasted with super glue. With closer observation, both of the older men in the room heard a tiny sniffling sound and saw that the blond attached to the toad sage had his eyes closed, but there was the faintest trace of a tear in the corner of his eyes.

Even though he was one of the **Konoha no Densetsu no Sannin** _ **(Legendary Three of the Leaf)**_ , the great toad sage of Mount Myōboku and the spymaster of Konoha, Jiraiya wasn't exactly fond of cheering up sobbing children. He preferred their normal emotional states where there was no crying and depression. As such, the white-haired sage had no idea what to do in a situation like this. Eventually, he just settled on rubbing the boy's back a few times before said boy let him go and jumped back to the ground.

The whole ordeal only lasted around twenty seconds.

And it felt awkward as hell.

Taking a deep breath, Naruto lifted his head and set his deep blue orbs on the tall man, who came very close to taking a step back at seeing those eyes which radiated pure happiness. Likewise, Hiruzen was also quite taken aback by the blond's overwhelmingly expressive gaze on his student. In the end, Naruto smiled happily, along with a bit of cheekiness.

"Yo, Ero-sennin!"

While Jiraiya was busy gaping like a fish, Hiruzen was holding his hand to his mouth in an attempt to ward off any laughter at the usage of the strangely insulting nickname, yet said with such affection that made it seem like it was given with the utmost respect and familial love.

Eventually the tall man managed to get a hold of himself and scowled at the blond who giggled like a little girl. He turned to his sensei who had calmed down and just looking at the two with a smile. Jiraiya finally sighed in resignation "When I finally thought I'd rid myself of that name, it comes back and haunts me again."

"Yeah, I heard that kā-chan used to call you that too."

Jiraiya snapped his head towards the blond with his eyes widened, then snapped towards the Hokage who just decided to adopt a stoic expression. He looked back at the blond who was now looking at him with a serious expression.

"We need to talk." said the blond.

"W-Wait a minute, Naruto. I-I know I've been away a-and that I've left y-you…" Jiraiya started but was interrupted when a blue glow spread through the walls of the room just before it disappeared. The man glanced at the Hokage's desk to see that he had activated the privacy seals in the office.

Naruto sighed and scratched the back of his head "This is gonna take some time."

And so, Naruto explained the situation regarding his time travel to the man. He told him the story of the goddess got bored and sent him back to the past, but that she also wanted to give him a new chance at a different life. When he heard the description of the goddess, Jiraiya had a tiny nosebleed before he took out a small book and started writing in it, but a blank stare from Naruto stopped that quite efficiently. In the end, as was customary now, Jiraiya's reaction to the situation was…

"What the hell?" Naruto blinked, idly wondering if that was some kind of default setting given to people as a response to that specific story.

"So what are you going to do then, Naruto?" The blond looked back to the toad sage before he sighed.

"That's just it. There's too many things to do."

Jiraiya and even Hiruzen looked confused and shared a look with each other, before turning back to the blond. Naruto took a deep breath and started to explain to the two men. He revealed the existence of the organization known as Akatsuki and their goals.

When he told him about the leader of the organization, Naruto's heart clenched when he saw the pain and disbelief on his teacher's face. He looked like he wanted to sprint all the way to Amegakure right now and beat some sense into his wayward student, Nagato. The only thing that stopped him was when Naruto told him of his own death when he faced Pain back in his own time. That and the blond's pleading eyes made him understand that he did not want that to happen again in any way.

Naruto then told the two men of the man behind the scenes of the organization, Tobi. The blond decided not to reveal the man's true identity just yet and instead fed them information that he was an Uchiha who was ridiculously strong and had a connection to the old warrior Madara. He also told them that Tobi was the one responsible for the Kyūbi incident, which nearly made even Hiruzen jump from his seat and go slaughter the man violently.

The blond knew that the former members of the organization still hadn't joined by this time. So he didn't see the need to inform the two men of them either, at least not yet.

"So essentially, we have only two problems. The Akatsuki and Orochimaru." Naruto said with a grim disposition.

At hearing their former acquaintance's name, Hiruzen narrowed his eyes while Jiraiya frowned "What do you mean? What does Orochimaru have to do with this?"

Naruto shook his head and told them of the snake sannin's shinobi village, Otogakure. Naruto told them that it would become a problem later on but he didn't want to mention anything specific, such as their cooperation with Suna _(Sand)_ in invading Konoha. He hinted at Hiruzen's death by his student though, which the Hokage didn't take easily. But before the two men could get any ideas, he told them it was not a good idea to interfere with things too much as that may lead to even more problems. So Naruto suggested to the Hokage that it's better to subtly and very slowly decrease the number of Oto shinobi over the years. Hiruzen seemingly accepted the idea after a moment's hesitation.

"Alright, I got it. That's a whole lot of information though." Jiraiya said after the talk. He was sitting on the couch while running through the new information and sorting it in his mind. As Konoha's spymaster, he had the job of getting info on things that risked the safety of the village. As such, he needed to sort things out and decide what to do further. Hiruzen stayed silent for the time being while sitting behind his desk in his usual seat.

"I don't know how you will use this knowledge, but the one thing I don't want you to do, Ero-sennin, is getting yourself involved in this directly." the toad sage looked back to the blond who continued "If you're going to spy on them or observe their movements or whatever, please do that while staying as far away from them as you can."

Jiraiya gazed at his godson who held a face that was filled with fear, worry and concern. He understood that even though he had never actually met or talked with the boy that much in this timeline, the boy cared for him very much. He understood that his godson treasured him very much and didn't want to risk even the mere possibility of losing him.

After a few seconds, the white-haired man stood up from the couch and walked over to the boy and ruffled his spiky blond hair. Naruto looked at his godfather who grinned widely in response "Don't worry, kid. I'm not Konoha's spymaster for nothing, you know. I can hide in plain sight."

Naruto smiled at the man's encouragement "Says the guy whose cover was blown in the park an hour ago."

Jiraiya sputtered as he tried to make up an excuse "T-That's just because I wasn't really trying. Yeah! I can do a lot better than that." he nodded to himself, pleased with his self-encouragement.

The blond shook his head with a smile while his surrogate grandfather chuckled quietly. His face then turned up a wry smile as he looked back to the toad sage.

"Now then, _godfather_ …" Jiraiya froze as he listened to his godson's usage of his rightful title "You owe me a _lot_ for leaving me alone for all these years." he said with a devious grin.

"B-B-But you're from the future!"

"Doesn't matter."

"But-"

"Ramen."

"…Eh?"

"You're buying me ramen tonight and some other things."

Jiraiya stared at the boy before sighing and accepting his 'punishment'. He watched as the boy gave a huge grin before he skipped out of the office. Jiraiya was about to follow when he heard his sensei say something. He turned back to him and asked what he just said.

"Hm? Oh, nothing. I was just saying a prayer for your wallet."

The toad sage frowned at the implications before bidding goodbye to the Hokage and walking out of the office behind the young blond.

It's just ramen. What's the worst that could happen?

* * *

Later in the evening, Jiraiya and a very satisfied Naruto walked out of the ramen stand as the man held his wallet with his hands and cried anime tears. Seriously, where does all that food go in such a small body? Was he actually feeding the fox inside him instead? It'd make sense though, since the beast is giant and must have a giant stomach. But if that _was_ true, he's going to have to worry about an upcoming famine in the village.

After Naruto was done patting his full stomach and letting out a burp, he turned his attention to his godfather who was sighing and putting the wallet back in his pocket.

"We're not done yet." Jiraiya's eyes widened the size of dinner plates before his head snapped towards the blond who sweat-dropped and waved his arms placatingly "Calm down, Ero-sennin. This next stuff is useful for both of us."

At his godfather's curious gaze, he spoke further "Fūinjutsu supplies. Shigure-san won't let me buy any higher quality equipment unless I get better. But if I show him just _how_ better I am, he's going to become suspicious. And I don't want that right now. So you can just buy some for yourself and give me some of your excess."

Jiraiya nodded at his reasoning and agreed to get him some supplies. If the boy really was as good as he claimed to be, then his contribution would only be beneficial to the boy. As a side effect, it would also be beneficial to the village as a whole, if he wishes to offer his services to it.

Now that they were walking through the streets, he noticed that there weren't as many glares towards the boy as he thought there would be. Of course, the people may very well be hiding themselves since he himself was walking alongside the boy but he found that a very few held a respectful gaze towards the boy. This caused him to remember the latest rumor regarding his godson and he turned to him to ask him about it.

"Hey kid, I remembered that you were involved in some kidnapping or something a few months ago. And that you have a sister now. What's that about?"

Naruto made a weird combination of a smile and a grimace as he remembered the incident ten months ago. He proceeded to tell his godfather about it and his sister's past. He recalled the events in surprisingly vivid detail and relayed them to the man who nodded every once in a while. The toad sage grimaced at the mention of the experiments as his thoughts turned to his old teammate who also did the same. At the end of it all, he had a warm smile on his face that Naruto seemed to take pleasure to have put there.

"Naruto…" said boy looked up to see the man's face "Why don't you ask her to change her last name to the same as yours?"

The blond frowned in thought for a while before shaking his head "No. Her present last name was given to her by her late father figure. She'd never want to change it just because I asked her to. But I admit, I also wish that she would." he said as a small smile graced his face.

Jiraiya just ruffled the boy's hair as they neared Shirobuki Ninja Tools. He smiled back at the boy as he turned forward again "Just ask her once. It's not a bad thing."

* * *

Two days later, Naruto took a day-off from his training since it was his birthday. His morning with Yui was as normal as ever just that she wished him a happy birthday. Though, he had expected more from his sister who hugged him every time she saw him. But either ways, he didn't care much for things like that, so he didn't mind.

Also, she had agreed to changing her last name to Uzumaki as well. He had just asked her only once, but she agreed with only a few seconds' hesitation. Naruto had internally face-palmed when he realized the reason for that was his **Attra-Light** \- he had named the attractive aura from the goddess' energy as such. She did say that she would ask for advice from her teacher though, the friendly teacher who lived in the district and came to teach her whenever he was free.

After a while of helping at the shop, he went to the park after lunch. When he reached there though, he frowned when he saw that none of his friends were there. In the end, he just sighed and went back to his training ground. As usual, he trained himself well past his limits as he depended on Kurama to fix up and improve his body.

Near six, he went to meet his surrogate grandfather and if lucky, his godfather. He had to go there from the shadows though, since every year on the 10th of October, the villagers celebrated the defeat of the Kyūbi and the Fourth Hokage saving the village. Because of this, the people who hated Naruto had their hatred amplified on this day.

In all honesty, he found the 'festival' repulsive that they celebrated the day that his father died.

Reaching the Hokage tower, he made an appointment like usual at the front desk before being asked to wait for ten minutes. He hid himself from the ninja that were frequenting the tower because he didn't want to get picked on by any hostile ninja either. When the secretary called once more, he just whizzed past her.

Naruto was mildly surprised when there was a 'pop' sound when he entered the office and two people were clapping. His grandfather Hiruzen and godfather Jiraiya both wished him a happy birthday and both gave him hugs. Jiraiya quickly proceeded to give his present to the blond - in the form of his toad summoning contract. Naruto felt strangely nostalgic when he saw the names of the previous contract holders including his father's name before he signed it. Hiruzen's present came in the form of an all-you-can-eat barbecue plus ramen. An odd combination which Naruto was too excited to even think about at the moment.

After finishing his meal with both Hiruzen and Jiraiya, Naruto started walking back home. Apparently, both Ichiraku Ramen and Yakiniku Q were both low on stock when they came because of the festival. The three ended up being the last customers to both places before splitting. Though the blond was satisfied, it wasn't exactly an 'all-you-can-eat'.

When Naruto reached home and opened the door, he almost fell back in surprise when there were multiple 'pop' noises before a large group of people shouted 'Happy Birthday'. He looked up and saw that all of his friends - even the usually and still stoic Shino - was here along with his sister Yui. They had all pooled their pocket money and gotten a cake for him that he was all too happy to accept. All of them ate the cake that night before they gave Naruto their small presents. They ranged from subtle clothing accessories to house decorations. Though there were some weird ones as well such as the silver bone that Kiba gave him as a tabletop decoration. Seriously, it's a bone. Using it as a decoration was just weird. But he accepted it nonetheless.

Naruto had almost neared the point of spilling tears of happiness when he saw that all his friends had organized a party just for him. In the past, all the villagers had celebrated October 10th as the Seventh Hokage's birthday as well as the day that the Fourth Shinobi War ended. That was a time when he was Hokage and he was acknowledged as such and adored by the people of his village. But now, this was just a different kind of happiness that he didn't want to let go of. But he was too manly to cry. Even as a 6-year old, he was just too manly for that.

Damn residue emotions.

After the party was finished, he and Yui cleaned up the room before they decided to hit the hay. Like normal, they both got into the same bed before pulling over the covers and going to sleep with one of Yui's arms thrown across him. Naruto though was laying face up staring at the ceiling with his hands behind his head.

 _ **"Happy birthday, brat."**_

Naruto smiled as he heard his best partner's voice in his head _'Thanks Kurama. But I wonder how old this makes me now. 41 or 6?'_

The blond heard the melodious chuckle of his divine tenant _**"I think it's best if you keep track of both your ages from now on. Happy birthday, Naruto-kun."**_

 _'Thank you, Kami-chan.'_ the blue-eyed blond fell into thought for a few dozen seconds before he spoke again _'Hey Kurama. Can you do me a favor?'_

 _ **"What is it?"**_ the fox asked his host. Naruto explained his thoughts to the bijū who seemed contemplative for a few moments. The goddess heard their discussion and also seemed to be thinking. Nodding his head, the orange fox closes his eyes and focused for a few seconds before opening them again.

 _ **"Yeah. You're right."**_ the fox smirked at the idea his container thought up _**"Defying common sense again, huh? You never seem to get tired of that."**_

 _'You and me both. What good is common sense in a world filled with mountain-sized chakra creatures able to be sealed into little babies?'_

Kurama snorted at his analogy _**"Looks like you just got another way to spend your free time."**_

 _'Oo-rah'_ Naruto grinned and closed his eyes before dozing off.

* * *

 **One year, eight months later**

Around one month left until the start of the Ninja Academy, Naruto had almost finished with his one and a half year old project.

The blond had grown quite a bit with the help of his tenant's chakra. He now stood at a height of above four feet and was the tallest in his group of friends. His muscles were considerably good for someone his age and most probably the best within his age group. His hairstyle had become reminiscent of his father's when he was his age. He had his usual golden spiky hair but now also had two lip length bangs framing his face. His usual attire consisted of a dark orange windbreaker with hoodie and the red Uzumaki swirl on the back, fitted for his size with Shigure's help. He wore dark grey trousers with blue ninja sandals suited for his size.

The only thing differentiating Naruto from his father were that his eyes were slightly larger than his father's and his unexplainable love for orange.

It was afternoon at the moment and there was an unusual slight breeze blowing, instead of the usual searing heat. At the moment, Naruto was sitting under a tree in his training ground, cross-legged and both his hands on the ground in front of him. He was looking over three sheets of paper laid out in front of him. The sheets were made of paper that spread the ink on it to both sides of the paper, helpful in that one doesn't have to draw any seal in reverse for application on a surface.

The first sheet was as large as his belly and had the same pattern the same size as the one on his stomach, which was the Eight Trigrams Seal. The difference was that it also had some more smaller patterns surrounding the swirl in the center. It looked like the main line was kept in a narrow tube of small kanji.

The other two sheets were small, as small as the size of his palm. Both of them had similar diagrams with a kind of focal point in the center and several kanji for 'Extend', 'Supply' and other words surrounding it. Though they were all very small.

Naruto nodded to himself before seal-lessly making a shadow clone who picked up the larger sheet. The original Naruto removed his jacket and put it on the grass underneath him before he laid his back on it. He was laying down on his back with his stomach showing. He channeled some of Kurama's chakra through his body which induced the appearance of the Eight Trigrams Seal.

His clone wordlessly proceeded to place the sheet on the seal until it fit the original seal exactly before pouring some chakra into the paper. The paper glowed for a second before it disintegrated away into particles and applied the seal on it to his stomach, merging with the already existing one.

Naruto took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

 _'Are you ready, Kurama?'_

 _ **"Are you?"**_ the fox waited for a few moments until his container nodded slowly _**"Alright. Tell your clone to get ready and to watch the seal."**_

The blond cracked open his eyes and nodded to the clone who did the same and picked up the remaining two seals, before kneeling down next to its creator and observing the seal on his stomach carefully. The original closed his eyes once again and took another deep breath.

 _'Do it.'_

With a nod, Kurama clapped his hand-like paws together and concentrated. Soon enough, the seal on Naruto's stomach began to glow orange. This continued on for a few minutes before a shouting voice became audible in the blond's head.

 _ **"I see it!"**_

As if in response, two small parts of the swirl in the Eight Trigrams Seal began to glow blue. Immediately upon seeing this, the clone slapped one of the two small seals on each blue area and started pouring its chakra into both sheets with one hand on each. It took a few moments, but eventually the sheet disintegrated and the seal made itself known on the swirl before it vanished when actually it turned invisible. The clone breathed a sigh of relief before it made itself comfortable in the shade while still keeping an eye on the seal.

The original Naruto, in the meanwhile, was frowning.

 _'Did it work?'_

 _ **"Why don't you come and take a look yourself?"**_ Naruto could almost _feel_ the smirk on the bijū's face but he cleanly heard the chuckle from his resident goddess. Steeling himself as if for war, he delved into his mind.

* * *

 **Mindscape**

Naruto snapped his eyes open when he felt the everlasting breeze of his mindscape. He gazed at the large green pasture he was standing in. The grass swayed gently in the wind and the sky was completely blue with cotton like clouds here and there placed as if for artistic purposes. The sun shined brightly yet did not impose or hinder the cool of the air.

His eyes finally fell on the backs of two people in front of him who were looking around as if to find out where they had ended up. They also held curious gazes from what he could see of their faces.

"…It's good to see you again…" Naruto said as the two people in front of him heard his voice and turned around. Their eyes widened and automatically started to become wet. He felt his own eyes dampening as he smiled warmly, finally getting a good look of the faces of the two.

"Tō-chan, kā-chan."

* * *

 **A/N:** And that's a wrap!

Yeah, I know. Cliché, right? But what's the big problem? This is FANFICTION! It's meant to be different. And I just want to give Naruto his parents. I'm a sucker for happy stories. Though don't worry, it won't always be happy things. It's still the beginning. So there wasn't exactly any action in this chapter. Sorry for that.

In truth, except the Naruto neglect fics, the only other fic where I've seen someone implement the parents alive in the seal route was **A Father's Gift**. And that one is just awesome.

In the next chapter, after Naruto's encounter with his parents and maybe a random event, I'll probably skip all the way to graduation day. Seriously, I don't want to continue this young age crap any longer than you guys do.

Random banter: Do you know the kind of horrible mistakes I did when I wrote this chapter the first time? I actually put in something like Yui liking Naruto and getting him to kiss her. They're a 10 and 5-year old. Ew. I wonder what ghost possessed me to write that. The second time, I put in something like Naruto asking Jiraiya to find the jinchūriki and give them one of his personal seals which prevent their death even if bijū are removed by Akatsuki, but they'd be weak after that. There's just too many problems with shit like that, so I didn't want to put it in. It'd just make writing this harder than it already is.

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 **REVIEW REPLIES**

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 **1:** Drop the Namikaze jeez what is this an early 2000 fic? Ain't no reason for you to add it espically since your using Hokage Naruto. If Kishi himself didn't call his own character at the end of canon Uzumaki "Namikaze" Naruto why should you? People these days.

 **R:** I believe I only called 'Uzumaki Namikaze Naruto' once in the entire fic and that was in the beginning. It's a form of introduction into my fic. Bah, I changed it anyway.

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 **2:** Overusing Japanese vocabulary in fanfiction is hideously awkward. It's usually used in the English translations of various anime, manga, and light novels when there's no direct translation from the native Japanese.

 **R:** I took your advice and edited the previous chapters, though I don't think I got all of them. But I _will_ be using Japanese for jutsu names though. It's just too damn epic to skip out on, in my opinion. But still, to each their own. I'll also be using them in titles - tō-san, kā-chan, jii-chan…

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 **3:** Nice start. I like the changes Naruto has made already and I can't wait to see what else he will do. Hopefully he decides to help him friends improve themselves earlier than canon. That would def go a long ways towards keeping everyone alive in the future. Great job so far and I look forward to the next update. Hope it's soon.

 **R:** Helping his friends improve earlier is the plan in my mind as well. It's just that I don't want to _show_ him helping them every step of the way. Just some tiny parts in the next chapter. I just want to get to canon already.

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Thank you for reading this chapter and please leave a **REVIEW** below. It helps. A lot. Please look forward to the next chapter as well. Blaze Out!


	5. Revivals and Graduations

**Author's Note (A/N):** This chapter is my way of saying 'Screw this shit!' to all the stuff that happened before Naruto's graduation from the academy.

I will tell you right now that I suck at sentimental scenes. As such, the parts involving Minato and Kushina are not well written. At least, that's what I think. And I think that's the truth. Another warning that I have for you is that this fic and specifically this chapter is probably chock full of plot holes which I'm not intending to fix unless it's something major and can change the entire story upside down. And remember: This is a fanfic! Realism is not the main focus of my writing.

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 **EDIT (17/11/2016):** Hello again. I apologize for not releasing another chapter but I have been busy as of late. Very busy. The exams are around the corners... screw that, the exams are already here and every day is a mess. So I will release a proper Chapter 6 maybe in December. Yep, unfortunately, I don't think I can write an entire chapter in between exams. Sorry.

Now, on to more important matters. I have 'upgraded' this chapter by altering the interaction between Naruto and Sasuke's family. It is no longer in a report type paragraph. Instead, it is in a standard story and interaction type. Scroll down to the Naruto meeting Sasuke's family part and you'll see that it is completely changed. Hope you like it. Sorry if you didn't.

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 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto. I do not own Naruto Shippūden. And by applying some unknown theorem, I do not own anything Masashi Kishimoto owns. Except maybe oxygen. And I'm not exactly sure of that.

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Chapter 5: Revivals and Graduations

The three stood there and stared at each other for an entire second before the two older persons made a mad dash towards the young boy and effectively crushed him between their bodies. The whiskered boy was not unhappy about this however and instead hugged them back as much as he could, considering his body size.

All three wept that day. Tears dampened their clothes and the soil beneath them, as they fell to their knees while still in each other's embrace, muttering each other's names repeatedly. The orange fox watched the trio from a distance before he turned around and walked off into the forest. The goddess followed his actions, opting to give the family some privacy.

Namikaze Minato let go of his son as he sat back down on the grass. He watched the form of his wife Uzumaki Kushina hugging their son, with a fond expression.

"I don't know if this is a dream, but I don't want it to end." the red-haired woman spoke in a voice that clearly conveyed the pure happiness she was feeling. Their family had been reunited. If this wasn't a dream, what else could it be? Herself and Minato had died on the day of their son's birth. But here they were, appearing as if nothing had happened and in the middle of a beautiful green field. It was definitely a dream, one that she did not want to wake up from.

"Yeah..." Minato said with a smile on his face.

Naruto shook his head in his mother's embrace as they both eventually let go of each other. After all of them calmed down enough to form rational thoughts once more, Kushina and Minato once again began to look around the place they were in before turning to their son.

"Naru-chan, where are we?" Kushina asked. It didn't matter if this was a dream, but she wanted to make some sense nonetheless. A glance at Minato revealed similar thoughts coming from the man.

Gaining his breath, the blond boy looked to his parents. "This isn't a dream, kā-chan. The two of you are not in your actual bodies. Both of you are the representations of your respective chakra that you sealed within me when you sealed the Kyūbi."

The two widened their eyes as Minato spoke shakily "S-So then, this is..."

"My mind. Yes." the boy replied with a nod. He was wondering what their reactions would be to this situation. As predicted, they started to observe their surroundings first. After a few seconds though, they turned back to the boy with a frown.

"Where is... Kyūbi?" Kushina questioned hesitatingly. The reason she was so confused as to where they were in the first place was because of the green fields. Normally, a person's mindscape wouldn't be so… vibrant. But now that she regained her thoughts, she realized that she was indeed in her son's mind. But if that was true, where was the prisoner that their son held?

Naruto turned his head and gazed into a part of the forest before turning back to the two. "He is... here."

Minato and Kushina shared another look before their faces gained expressions of sadness, which confused the whiskered boy. Why were they sad? He had thought they would be happy for being able to have the family together again.

"What's wrong? Why do you look so down all of a sudden?"

They both looked at their son with sad faces before Minato spoke "Naruto, I'm sorry to say this... But we can't stay forever. We only have a limited amount of time left before our chakra is depleted. I'm afraid we can't be together for much longer." he looked down as he grit his teeth in frustration. Their family was finally together once more, but they wouldn't be able to enjoy it for much longer.

In response to this revelation, Naruto merely smiled widely. "Who said so?"

Kushina's lips twitched downward "Naru-chan... we know you don't want that. We don't want it either but-" she was interrupted by her son as he removed his shirt and revealed his torso. The woman and Minato merely blinked at their son's actions, curious to know what he was doing.

Naruto kept his belly in view of his parents as he consciously circulated the Kyūbi's chakra in his body. The **Eight Trigrams Seal** appeared on his stomach as he smirked at the sight of his parents widening their eyes and slightly opening their mouths.

"Wha-... What is that? That's not the seal I put on you. I mean, it is. But what are all the extra seals surrounding the swirl?" Minato asked as he looked at the strange additions which were very slowly starting to make sense. At first glance from a Seal Master's point of view, the 'tube' around the swirl line appeared to add some additions or 'enhancements' to the original seal. What the enhancements were, however, was something he did not know… yet.

"This," Naruto pointed to the seal "is what will theoretically allow both your chakra's to exist indefinitely within me."

Both of them snapped their heads towards his face in an instant upon hearing that and shouted "What!?" right to his face. Naruto smiled and began to explain the additions on the original seal.

"You see, ever since I found out about the existence of your chakra within me, I knew that if you were 'summoned', you would fade away soon. So I tried to extend the duration that you can stay." he noticed that both of them were looking at him curiously and he smiled before continuing.

 **(A/N:** For the people who don't want explanations, skip to next author's note. **)**

"You know that chakra is made of the Physical and Spiritual energies of a body, correct?" Seeing them nod, he continued. "Your chakra in my body is similar. It has both your Physical and Spiritual energies which you stored during the time of sealing, and is able to exist for a while. But eventually, both the energies will start to exhaust themselves and run dry, which ultimately results in you fading out of existence." his parents were staring at him with their full focus while occasionally glancing at the seal. He chuckled once before explaining further.

"To prevent this, I spent the last one and a half year making and perfecting a seal that will allow for the regeneration of both of these energies. And... I succeeded." With that, both of his parents dropped their jaws.

"Y-You mean… the regeneration of foreign chakra in a body?" Naruto smirked at his mother's question before nodding.

"Physical energy was easy to deal with. I just had to link it to my own chakra and allow it to replenish itself using my reserves as a refill, which worked since we're related by blood. Luckily, since you two are technically projections of a kind, it doesn't put any stress on my reserves since the amount of your chakra in me is not the same as the actual amount in your own bodies. That, and I already have Kage level reserves. So there wasn't much problem there." he nodded to himself.

"The real problem was Spiritual energy. Since that's what makes people unique from each other, if I just link it to my own, your personalities and mind would be overwritten by my own. So to fix that, I took other measures. Since Spiritual energy depends on the mind or, in other words, the brain, I spent the majority of my time trying to make one... An artificial brain."

"An a-artificial b-b-brain?" both of them stuttered out in awe.

"I eventually did it. I made a seal that acts as a 'virtual' brain. Two of them, which hold each of your minds separately and hence allows you to create new memories and experience new things, which leads to the regeneration of your Spiritual energy. The only downside with that seal is that it constantly takes some of my own and some of the Kyūbi's chakra to function properly. But like I said, my reserves are giant and the Kyūbi is like an infinite reservoir, so it's not a problem."

"There are a few more things. A separate seal is used to combine the two energies safely and allow for your use. If the Physical energy line is somehow cut or I have chakra exhaustion, you'll still exist for up to two months with the help of the backup seal that holds some extra 'fuel'. If the Spiritual energy line is cut, you won't experience any existence problems, but after maybe three days, you'll freeze. 'Paralyze' would probably be a better word. In other words, your body will be fine. But it would be a body without a brain. Hence, something like a living corpse. There's also some seals for stability and control, along with communication and sense sharing, and some others. But I'll explain that some other time."

 **(A/N:** Continue. **)**

"To summarize, as long as I'm alive and well, the both of you will exist as well." Naruto concluded with a satisfactory nod to himself.

"Fascinating..." his father said while both of his parents were now observing the new seals, touching and poking at them occasionally. The blond boy had to resist the urge to giggle more than once due to their unintentional tickling.

"Naru-chan has mastered fūinjutsu at such a young age. I might think he's even better than us." his mother said with the same amazed voice of his father. The two of them then shared a look before they turned to him in concern.

"Naruto, it's great that you're so good at fūinjutsu, but how did you get so good at such a young age? Did Jiraiya-sensei teach you?" It would make a little bit of sense if that were the case. But it still doesn't explain everything.

Fūinjutsu was a complicated art, there's no denying that. It was way beyond the scope of a child even if he/she was a genius. Even the famed Uzumaki clansmen were not that much of geniuses. Naruto seemed to be around seven to eight years old at the moment. If a boy of that age was able to make a seal that could function as the life-support system of a chakra projection, that boy would have needed the knowledge and the thought process of one beyond his age. If he did have those, he would not be a simple genius for his age. He would be a once-in-a-century prodigy, if not once-in-a-millennium. Did that mean that Naruto was one such prodigy?

The whiskered boy shook his head in the negative. "No, tō-chan. That's not it. Well, he _did_ teach me a bit, but I'll get to that later. Right now, I want you both to meet Kurama."

"Kurama?" both of his parents repeated in unison, blinking and tilting their heads to one side.

Naruto chuckled before getting up from his cross-legged seating position on the ground and helped his parents up before putting on his shirt again. Just as he was about to lead them to Kurama though, Minato picked Naruto up and seated the boy on his shoulders, much to the boy's embarrassment. Even though he complained that he was an adult and stuff, his father wanted to spoil his son a bit as he never got the chance to before. To hell with the 'time and place for things' crap.

With Naruto leading the way through the forest, they came upon a large peaceful clearing. They looked around for a second before they froze. Naruto jumped off his father's shoulders as his parents both took their respective combat stances as they prepared to face the beast that was sitting a few dozen meters from them with his head on the back of his front paws.

The Kyūbi sneered at two of the three arrivals while the two in question flinched. His crimson eyes glared fiery holes into their forms as they began to sweat in anticipation of a massive battle.

 **"So you're back, huh, Yondaime** _ **(Fourth)**_ **? I've grown stronger than before. I dare you to try and touch the great Kyūbi-sama now! HAHAHA-OW!"** the fox recoiled in surprise when his nose got punched by the young boy standing before him, who also had an annoyed look on his face.

"What are you doing?" he asked in a bored and resigned tone.

 **"Damn it, brat! Let me have some fun with them. I was just about to break their minds with fear and you just ruined it!"** the bijū spoke while rubbing his nose with one hand/paw. Not that it hurt in the first place. The punch came from someone the size of his eyeball after all. A reflex. One that didn't fit a massive beast such as the Kyūbi no Kitsune.

Naruto gave the fox a flat stare "As if I'll let you break them right after reviving them and setting them up."

 **"Tch."** the beast clicked his tongue in mild exasperation before turning away. Naruto smiled at his partner's actions before turning around to his parents to see that they were busy picking up their jaws from the floor. They seemed to be doing that a lot lately. Jaw dropping that is. The Kyūbi glanced at them as well and snorted in amusement.

Naruto stepped in between the beast and the two humans, and turned to aforementioned beast. "Oy, come on. Introduce yourself."

 **"You have got to be freaking kidding me."**

"No. No I'm not."

 **"I'm not doing that."**

"Oh? So you want _me_ to introduce you, hmm?" A mischievous glint could be seen in striking detail in the boy's eyes.

A shudder through the spine convinced one of many things.

 **"Alright fine!"** the fox said before sitting on his haunches and staring down at the two behind the blond boy who had relaxed a little bit due to the strange, borderline friendly, interaction taking place. The bijū's nine tails were swishing around behind him, almost idly, considering their unplanned motions.

The beast then proceeded to speak in a monotone voice **"My name is Kurama. I am known as the Kyūbi no Kitsune** _ **(Nine-Tailed Fox)**_ **. My hobbies are sleeping or messing with the brat's head."** he ignored the indignant shout of "Oy!" and continued **"I have no dreams to fulfill seeing as I live forever. But… I do want to kill a certain Uchiha one more time."** he finished with a thoughtful gaze.

Naruto stared at the fox flatly "Really? I mean… really? After all that we… *Sigh* Just forget it. It's not worth it to argue with you right now." He turned back to his parents who had gotten confused enough by now to just stare blankly into nothingness. "Great. This just became… awkward…" Looking at them again, he sighed and added almost as an afterthought "And a whole lot more troublesome." Indeed, the Nara is strong in this one.

In an attempt to remedy the awkward atmosphere, Naruto tried to rope them back into the situation of him being overly smart for his age. With his parents regaining consciousness (almost as if they had gone brain dead for a small while), Naruto proceeded to tell them about his situation, him and Kurama coming from the future to his younger body due to the boredom of a goddess. At which point, said goddess floated down to the trio like a lollipop fairy before introducing herself and floating off again.

It was a funny sight to see when they heard that. Both of them had tried repeatedly to dispel a non-existent genjutsu and get out of the bizarre experience. Eventually they gave up but not before uttering the default 'What the hell?' response to the story.

Naruto told his parents a few details about the future. Harmless things like being friends with the Kyūbi, becoming Hokage, learning (and nearly mastering) fūinjutsu and some more. On their urges, he told them some of the stories of his youth and how he was treated back when he was young in the previous timeline. Both of them fumed when they heard of his harsh treatment from the villagers, but Naruto let them know that he wasn't too sad right now… mainly because he had pranked the life out of those who had wronged him anyways.

Minato and Kushina listened to their son as he spoke of his adventures when he was a genin. All of them had a laugh at his expense when he was forced to recall some of the more embarrassing experiences, such as the first time Team 7 fought against Kakashi during which the whiskered boy received a **Sennen Goroshi** _**(One Thousand Years of Death)**_ to his rump.

When asked for more details on the future, he told them to ask Kurama for the time being while he got back to the real world and go home. He was in a training ground after all. But before leaving, he told them the function of the communication seal which allowed for a mental conversation when he was focused on actions regarding his real body.

And so, Naruto went back home skipping along the way with the happiness overload from seeing his parents again and having set up a way to keep them around too.

* * *

 **Three months later**

Naruto's entry into the Ninja Academy along with his friends was not as glorious as he had expected it to be. After the first speech, it was just studies. They were no practical courses in the first year besides routine physical exercises so simply said, it was utterly boring for him and his friends, including Sakura who was even better in academics than before since she wasn't a fangirl at the moment. Naruto thought of this as a major waste of time so he consulted his parents and thought up an idea.

On that matter, Naruto had decided that he would keep the matter regarding his parents a secret from the Hokage or Jiraiya. Even though it would be nice and they would almost definitely be happy for him, he worried that they might become over-dependent on his parents' opinion for things. Instead of all that trouble, it would simply be better to live normally without too many complications… Well, more than there already were.

Currently, he was sitting in front of the Hokage who was taking a puff from his pipe. Once he had enough for the time being, he turned to the young boy.

"So what exactly are you here for, Naruto-kun?"

The boy in question perked up and explained his plans to the Hokage who went over the details. He found the idea appealing and listened further, while offering some changes to them in the middle.

"And since I know the normal jōnin or even chūnin will be busy all the time with missions and stuff, I think this plan could work wonders for the others. And trust me jii-chan, we're going to need all the miracles we can get for the coming future." Naruto concluded in a serious tone.

Hiruzen though it over and finally nodded his head after taking another puff. "Alright then, Naruto-kun. You can go ahead with that idea. But I request that you ask them to be confidential about the matter. If they start to blabber out their situation to everyone they meet, it will become a rather large problem to solve. Even thought it would be false, people who found out would criticize me for favoritism. If it is necessary, use my name to threaten them into co-operating."

Naruto nodded as well before getting up and walking to the door with a smirk on his face. "Will do, jii-chan. You can expect the best damn batch of genin you've ever seen to graduate after four years.

* * *

 **One week later**

"Well? What are we doing here, Naruto?" Kiba asked as he paced around the training ground, with the young pup Akamaru following behind him.

Currently, Naruto and his friends were at one of the empty training grounds scattered around Konoha. They had gathered there under the request of their friendly neighborhood whiskered blond who said he had something important to show them.

Everyone else turned to the blond who was staring at a particular direction. "Wait a few minutes. He'll be-… He's here." he said just as a small cloud of smoke appeared in front of them.

The smoke cleared to reveal a man who was roughly 5'10, had spiky red hair and violet eyes. He was wearing what seemed like the standard Konoha jōnin uniform but there was no hitai-ate anywhere on his body. He did not have any side bangs to frame his face nor any whisker marks. Either of them would remind someone of one of two people after all.

The man stood there smiling and watching all the kids in front of him. Most of them were surprised or startled at the sudden appearance but had calmed down and were now staring back at him curiously.

Finally, he clapped his hands to end the staring contest and began to speak. "Hello everyone. My name is Tonami and I have been hired by the Hokage to train the lot of you for the next three years."

The announcement was met with silence. It was so silent that the wind blowing through the field was as loud as an orchestra. Finally, a sound came from Kiba who was looking down and shaking. Before anyone could say anything though, he pumped his fist high into the air in victory. One could almost see the imaginary tears that were flowing out from his eyes, anime-style.

"Yes! YES! _YES!_ We finally get to do something other than studying! Real ninja training! And the person teaching us has been hired by the Hokage! Oh YES!" Kiba continued to thank the heavens, along with the name of each and every clan ancestor he knew of and promised to give them an offering of gratitude. Almost everyone else sweat-dropped. They knew the academy was bad and/or boring, but they didn't think the news was worth _that_ much celebration over.

Shikamaru, ever the doubtful one, turned back to their new instructor with narrowed eyes. "Why exactly did the _Hokage_ , of all people, decide to give us - as in, this particular group of people - a special instructor?" He was very suspicious of this man. First of all, he didn't have a hitai-ate. Next, he looked somewhat vaguely familiar for some reason. He wasn't naïve enough to believe what someone says the moment they say it.

Realization dawned on Tonami's face as he understood what the young Nara was thinking. "Ah, I see. The reason for that would be Naruto-kun over there." he said, pointing to the blond in question who sheepishly scratched the back of his head when everyone's eyes fell on him. "From what I hear, he nagged the Hokage to teach him and his friends something other than the routine exercises in the academy. But since the Hokage couldn't do such a thing so blatantly - since it would be a fine show of favoritism - the Hokage hired me to teach you guys and get Naruto out of his face." he said with a careless shrug.

Immediately, an air of understanding flew through the crowd before Kiba spoke. "Yeah, that sounds like him alright."

"Troublesome… Couldn't you have just left me alone? Now I have to put up with more training." Shikamaru said with a dramatic sigh at the end.

"I don't *munch* mind though." came from Chōji who was busy eating his chips.

"Me neither, I guess. Not like I have much else to do besides looking after the flower shop." was Ino's reply.

Shino's answer was a nod of the head.

"A-Ano. I would like training as well. I-it would help me for my own p-purposes." Hinata stuttered out. In truth, her stuttering had reduced considerably, credit to all the time she had spent with Naruto and the group. Her confidence was slowly rising as she was beginning to become more independent as well.

Sakura took a look at Ino, then at Sasuke and Naruto, then back to Ino and finally back to Tonami, who _almost_ took a step back, seeing the determination in her eyes. "Me too." was her simple response.

Sasuke stood in his place, waiting until everyone else had said their part. When it came to him, he nodded vigorously before he froze then folded his arms and just gave a grunt "Hn."

 _'Hmm…'_ Naruto thought in his mind _'From the looks of it, his clan is in the process of shoving the Uchiha-stick up Sasuke's back. I better pull it out before it goes in too deep.'_

 _ **"Good luck with that."**_

 _'Huh? Why? Is it that hard?'_

 _ **"Naruto, Uchiha are Uchiha for a**_ **reason** _ **. One does not simply pull the stick out from an Uchiha's ass."**_ the bijū inside the boy spoke with a grave tone. Why he chose that tone to say something like that was something the boy didn't want to find out right now.

 _"Kurama! Language!"_ Kushina's voice reverberated through his mind.

Said fox just snorted at the woman _**"Kushina, you have no right whatsoever to say that. Especially since you're the most verbally vulgar human I've ever been sealed in."**_

Naruto felt his mother blush in embarrassment and heard his father laughing, soon followed by a sound that sounded similar to a fist colliding with a skull. At seeing Kurama's victorious smirk, Kushina blushed once again and turned away _"S-Shut up, dattebane."_

The blond boy chuckled at hearing his mother's verbal tic. He himself had his own, the infamous dattebayo, but had mysteriously stopped using it a few years ago. It was gradual and eventually, he just stopped saying it. It felt… weird talking without it and he never did understand how that happened. Was it something that happened when a person reaches a specific age?

…

Nah, that can't be it. After all, he still sometimes slips up when he gets highly excited or embarrassed.

Back to the situation at hand, Naruto noticed that everyone was looking at him expectantly. He grinned widely "Of course I'm in. I'm the one who started this after all."

Seeing everyone smile and turn back to him, Tonami did the same and all of them spent a few minutes introducing themselves and getting to know each other.

Once that was done, the man cleared his throat and spoke "Alright then. First of all, I want to tell you a few things regarding your training." He waited for them to nod before continuing.

"The first thing to tell you is that I won't train you all the time. That would cause way too many suspicions around you and we don't need that kind of attention. As a side rule, I'm telling you right now that if you reveal that you are training under me to _anyone_ , and I mean _anyone_ , even to the pillow on your bed, I will stop your training." He saw their horror-stricken faces, so he quickly spoke further. "Calm down. The condition is simple - Keep your training a secret from everyone around you, except each other. As far as anyone else is concerned, I don't exist and you've never met me. Understood?"

That seemed to satisfy them if the way they switched to a smile and nodded was anything to say. Well, you couldn't see Shino's face since it was buried in his clothes and Shikamaru didn't look like he cared much on the outside. Naruto though was never worried since the beginning.

"Next condition. I will not teach you any new jutsu." He put up a hand to stop anyone from shouting "The reason I won't teach you any new jutsu is because we have two problems. One - you're all from a clan, well most of you are. If your clansmen _somehow_ notice you know jutsu that no one taught you, then they would become suspicious, which I already said is something we don't need. Normally, I don't think they would mind. The problem is with the other clans who notice and might investigate, and finally criticize the Hokage. Two - because of some personal circumstances, I am unable to do anything chakra intensive."

It was obvious most of them were dissatisfied at that and the reasons as well. So he quickly continued.

"But, I _can_ help you in improving and/or refining jutsu that you already know. Mainly, I will train you in things outside of the academy syllabus that are very important, not to mention useful, for every ninja. I can also help you in taijutsu as well."

They nodded again, accepting the conditions so far. They were a bit odd, but not dangerous or anything.

"The last condition is not much of a condition as it is a bit of information. Let me tell you this right now so you get it through your heads." Tonami began in a serious tone "I am _not_ your personal sensei. I am just a helpful friend who was hired to teach you a few things. - Yes, that doesn't make sense. Get used to it. - As such, I want you all to treat my teachings as advice from a friend and not as teachings from a tutor. Do you understand?"

Most of them either nodded or stood silent, but Kiba spoke out in a confused tone "Um… What does that mean?"

"It means, Kiba…" Tonami said looking at the boy in question "that I am not responsible for anything that happens between yourselves regarding the things you learn. A normal teacher would try to solve most of your problems, be it personal or involving a group. But I am just a passerby, hence I will do no such thing. So in essence, I will not be teaching you for three years. I will be _advising_ you for three years. Get it now?"

The Inuzuka boy nodded reluctantly and Tonami supposed that was good enough for now.

"Good. From today on, I will tell you where and when to meet me the next time after each day's group training. Between the sessions, I want you all to train individually on the latest topic that we went through." All of them once more accepted the conditions and got ready. Tonami smirked at their determination.

"Alright then. Since most of you are from a clan, I would imagine that you already know a thing or two about the basics. The Leaf Concentration Exercise is a chakra control exercise where you stick a leaf to your forehead and see how long you can hold it there by concentrating as much as possible. But…" Tonami gave a feral grin which sent shivers up the spines of everybody present, except Naruto. "My version is a bit different. Each of you take three leaves and stick one to the forehead, and one each to the back of both of your fists. Ah, Sakura come here. I will teach you the basic exercise, seeing as you're from a civilian family and you probably don't know it yet."

It took a while but eventually everyone managed to stick the required leaves to their foreheads and fists. Except Sakura, who wanted to get comfortable with the basics before attempting the more advanced stuff.

"Good. Now that you're done with that…" the man gestured towards the fields surrounding them, pointing generally towards the training ground as he spoke "Go and run ten laps around the training ground with those leaves still stuck to those positions."

"What!?" was Kiba's shout of disbelief.

Tonami ignored him as he continued "If you drop the leaves, stop, stick them again, and continue running. This is a simple but great way to improve both your physical attributes as well as your chakra control and concentration, along with the ability to split your focus."

Everyone just stood there looking towards the fields and starting to sweat lightly.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU WAITING FOR? MOVE IT!"

With that, the kids jumped in surprise once before they started to run carefully. They were quite busy trying not to either drop the leaves or bump into any obstacle. Sakura saw the exercise as a challenge and tried her best with the Leaf Concentration Exercise so that she could also join them as soon as possible. Naruto used the training to improve his body by amping his gravity seals to three times normal. He had left his usual clones at his personal grounds for other things anyway.

As it neared sunset, everyone were finished with their respective exercises, most panting and gasping for breath while some were nearly on the verge of falling unconscious. After they got the info on their next meet up time and location, they immediately went home leaving only Naruto and Tonami in the grounds.

"That was ok. You could be a little less harsher on them though. They're not all me." Naruto said to the man beside him. He looked to see that the sun had almost completely sunken into the horizon, making darkness take over the world slowly.

"Meh, they'll get through it. Besides…" Tonami was suddenly engulfed in smoke. As the smoke was blown away, in his place stood an identical copy of Naruto with the same clothes as well. "I'm you, right Boss?"

Naruto shook his head and dispelled the clone before walking out of the grounds.

* * *

"Naruto, I wanted to ask you something."

The boy in question turned to his father who was, at the moment, watching his son walk on his hands on the surface of the river in his mindscape. The man was wearing a simple Konoha ninja uniform without the hitai-ate and flak jacket. He was sitting on the riverbank, cross-legged.

Naruto had long since learned that he could train in his mindscape the same way he could train his shadow clones, which meant anything except physical training. As such, he was doing just that while his real body was busy sleeping and being cuddled by Yui.

"What is it, tō-chan?"

"You already know quite a lot about fūinjutsu. But I noticed something." Minato said with a calculating gaze.

"What?" Naruto tilted his head, and lost his balance before tumbling down. Luckily, he redirected his chakra to stay above the water instead of sinking. He walked back to the shore and sat beside his father who turned to look at him.

"I've seen you practicing seals both outside and in here, but every time, you were using paper… What I mean to ask is, why don't you use the more advanced direct applying method?"

The whiskered boy looked sheepish and rubbed the back of his neck before speaking again "I… I know there's something like that. I've seen it before. But ah… I never had anyone teach me how to do it. I learned how to do it on my own but I felt it was kind of… wrong, the method I mean. I was about to fix the method, but then… I came _here_." he was referencing that he came back to the past, which his father also understood.

Minato cupped his chin with his hand and looked thoughtful. After a few moments, he smiled and got up, grabbing Naruto and seating him on his shoulders before going off.

The two soon found Kushina chatting away with Kurama as if he were some long lost relative, though the bijū was trying and failing to ignore her as evidenced by the occasional grunts and one liners.

"Kushina-chan."

Said woman looked to the father and son duo, and once again felt the warmth in her chest that she felt every time she saw the two together. It seemed that their son had eventually stopped resisting to his father's non-periodic tendency to seat him on his shoulders and was now resting the palms of his hands on his spiky hair.

She smiled at the sight before turning to them properly "What is it, Minato?"

The man plopped down in front of her and let down Naruto who seated himself beside his father though he had a curious look on his face. Minato looked to his wife with eyes sparkling excitedly, which made Kushina curious until he spoke "It seems our son still hasn't mastered fūinjutsu yet. Specifically, he has some trouble with the chakra application method."

Kushina's expression turned to one of surprise before she turned to her son who nodded sheepishly. She smiled happily seeing that her and Minato could still teach something to their son.

They had been a bit depressed that even though they were his parents, they couldn't teach their son anything. They had thought that he had already surpassed them in everything. But now it seemed that was not the case.

"Well, looks like there's something we can teach you after all, dattebane!" the red-haired woman said gleefully.

Naruto did not miss the hint in her words. Since he didn't have parents most of his life, their words now registered in his mind far quicker than normal words. And hence, he picked up a hidden meaning in the words of his mother. They were unhappy that they couldn't help their son in any way useful.

He smiled.

That's what they _thought_. In reality, they could help with a lot of things.

"Thanks, kā-chan." he said before he looked at his father "Hey, tō-chan."

Minato turned to his son and blinked once. Naruto continued "Can you teach me your **Hiraishin** _**(Flying Thunder God)**_?"

For some reason, both of his parents gaped. He was about to question why they did so just before his father spoke "You… You don't know the Hiraishin? Even though you're so good at fūinjutsu?" he asked incredulously.

Naruto rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably. "Well… You were called **Konoha no Kiiroi Senkō** _ **(Konoha's Yellow Flash)**_ , right?" Minato nodded. "I… just didn't want to steal that title from you… I wanted you to be remembered as the only Yellow Flash in history and the fact that person was my dad."

Minato and Kushina blinked once more before they snorted and started laughing. Loudly. Loud enough for Kurama to yell **"SHUT UP!"** and go right back to sleep. Both of them promptly shut up and Minato ruffled the whiskered boy's hair.

He smiled at his son before he spoke "Naruto, thank you for your intentions, but in truth, I would be honored if you take my title from me. If I were alive, I would have shouted out to the world that my son surpassed me." he fixed his son with a gaze "Listen, son. Parents would be immensely happy when their children surpass them. And I'm not an exception to this."

As Naruto listened to his father's words, he realized that he already knew that. He had been immensely happy whenever Boruto or Himawari surpassed him in anything. Whenever they won a simple spar against him, he had been happier than the winners themselves. Likewise, he now figured that his own parents would have been happy if he had chosen to surpass them in their own fields.

But then again, in his time, there weren't that many chances to showcase the Hokage's powers, since it was a time of mutual peace.

"So… What else did you neglect learning in exchange for honoring us?" Kushina asked teasingly.

Blinking away the wetness in his eyes, he proceeded to tell them of his current shortcomings. Mainly, he was dissatisfied with his taijutsu. While it was suited for him, it was admittedly not as strong as he wanted it to be. The reason he stuck to it was because he almost never got to fight normal humans in his time. It was always beasts, sharks, monsters, energy balls, bijū, deities and purple samurai.

Anyway, Kushina's taijutsu was top class and if she taught him, it would be very useful. But the problem was that her taijutsu was designed for her personal use, meaning it needed her own body to be used properly. In the end, Naruto decided to merge the two styles to create a new one specifically for him.

On Minato's end, he agreed to teach his son the art of weapons. Not that Naruto didn't already know how to handle a kunai. Minato wanted to teach the boy how to be more efficient using them. He also agreed to teach Naruto the **Hiraishin** and the correct way to use it, which really meant how to use it without getting blown away or stuck in a tree.

Both of them together also wanted to teach Naruto a few things he was lacking in fūinjutsu as well as some jutsu for his elements that he hadn't already known.

* * *

The next few months flew by in an identical vein. Tonami would gather everyone up for group training at least twice a week. Each time, everyone would leave the training ground completely exhausted, but satisfied. They couldn't find it in themselves to complain as they learned something new every time. Usually, it was a new physical exercise or sometimes a hybrid of chakra control and physical.

Tonami had drilled it into their heads that chakra control was one of the most important things they'd need in the future. Naruto had learned from experience and thus had such an opinion. He had decided to go slow with the teaching process and show them things one step at a time. Most times, that just happened to be sticking more leaves simultaneously. Tree walking and water walking he decided to teach them in their later years of the academy.

In the meanwhile, Naruto was busy mastering the method of applying seals using only hand seals and chakra. It was a lot more easier than he imagined since he already knew a lot about fūinjutsu. With every successful application of a seal, he moved up to a more complex seal. Along with this, his clones were usually busy doing one of two things. They were either refining chakra control or they were getting stuck in trees using **Hiraishin**. The seals for the technique were hand drawn on papers using ink for the time being.

He was also finally able to make a normal **Bunshin**. So, his next milestone in chakra control was to be able create **Rasengan** under his feet. He himself was weirded out when he decided this, but just ignored the weirdness of it.

In the academy, Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, Aburame Shino, Inuzuka Kiba, Hyūga Hinata, Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Chōji and Yamanaka Ino were seen together at most times by the people around and hence the group was dubbed the 'The Inheritance Gang', implying that most of the members were future clan heads who would inherit the seat. Though people had no idea why the group had Naruto, who was clanless, as the leader of the group.

Naruto's performance in the academy was, in a way, some kind of a joke. The results of his written tests were horrible. Out of a 100, he had an exact 10 in each subject. But the thing was that whenever Umino Iruka or any other teacher asked him a question in class, Naruto would give an answer worth a 100 points. This confused many teachers and enraged those who tried to sabotage him, hating him for his tenant. His friends had a laugh every time he did that and praised the ingenious method the blond had found to prank the teachers indirectly.

Though when they asked him why he did so in the first place, he gave a shrug, which was the universal gesture for 'I don't have a single freaking clue.'

But no matter how low he scored on the written tests, the effect was nullified by the physicals which were at a perfect 100 each and every time. The average of both the written and the physicals usually added up to an exact 55%, while the passing grade for the first year was 50%.

In technical terms, Naruto would be the dead last in the passable portion of the class. But no one in the entire class thought of him as so. The reason being that were it not for the written tests, he would have been the top student. And no person in the class had good opinions of the written tests anyways.

Some bullies tried to force the title of the dead last on Naruto, but they were 'persuaded' to stop doing so. All credit went to the eggs pelted at them whenever they even tried to get within two feet of the blond boy. No one understood where the eggs were coming from either.

Naruto also quickly befriended Iruka. It was rather simpler than expected with the help of his normal 'brightness' and the **Attra-Light**.

In a nutshell, there were no visible problems with the academy part of his life.

* * *

The door to the house opened to reveal a woman with black eyes and long black hair, in a homely dress. She looked down at the person who had called and smiled.

"Welcome home, Sasuke. Oh my, you seem to have brought a friend today?" Uchiha Mikoto said as she patted her son's head. The boy pouted indignantly and tried to grab the arm patting his head, only to grab empty air. The woman chuckled as she looked at the other person.

Sasuke huffed and turned to his blond friend beside him, gesturing him with a hand "This is Naruto. I've told you about him before, kā-san."

Mikoto observed Naruto with a smile creeping onto her face. The boy was pretty much the spitting image of Minato, who also happened to be her best friend Kushina's secret husband. Oh yes, she already knew about the two of them having a child, as well as that child carrying one of the biggest burdens of the village.

The black-haired woman wanted to shower him with affection ever since he was born. After all, that was the least she could do to honor her friendship with Kushina. She personally cared for the boy as well, because ever since he had come into her own son's life, Sasuke had become much more cheerful. She wanted to look after the boy who had no real blood relatives nearby, who was alone for five years from his birth until he found himself a sister. Unfortunately, things were not that easy.

The only reason she could not care for him properly was because of the one thing that held back any ninja family in Konoha from doing the same. Politics.

The fools on the council believed that they should keep him as a neutral party with no affiliation to any ninja clan in Konoha as they feared that he would be exploited for his value, and that said clan would break the power balance in Konoha if they manage to get the 'weapon' on their side. Well, that might indeed be the case in her own clan, but she did not think that would be the same in every clan though.

Take the Nara clan, for example. What would they do with him? They're utterly and completely loyal to the village so they wouldn't try to exploit the boy. Most likely, they would probably just turn him into the laziest jinchūriki in the world.

Anyway, back to the present. Mikoto smiled sincerely before crouching down to the whiskered boy's level and holding a hand out to him. "Hello. You must be Uzumaki Naruto. My son has told me a lot about you. My name is Uchiha Mikoto and I am Sasuke's mother."

Up until now, Naruto had been watching everything before him with plain interest. Now, he was a tad bit taken aback by the woman in front of him. For some reason, his brain had concluded that every Uchiha he would ever meet would be stuck-up pricks. Well, considering the people he had met before, that was a very possible conclusion. But of course, if someone was nice to him, he would be nice to them too. Simple as that.

He placed his own hand on the bigger extended one. "Nice to meet you... Mikoto-san?" he asked nervously but seeing the woman's smile put him at ease as he continued "Sasuke had invited me to dinner at his house today, and I accepted that offer. I hope I am not a bother."

Sasuke's mother shook her head and patted Naruto's head, which he leaned into comfortably. "Of course not, Naruto-kun. You are very much welcome to join us." She stood up and ushered both Sasuke and Naruto inside.

In the blond's mindscape, Kushina had big teary eyes and had a look of absolute happiness and gratitude... somewhat. _"Thank you. I knew I could count on you, Miko-chan."_

 _'Eh?'_ Naruto's voice reverberated through the space.

At his son's confusion, Minato decided to explain. " _You see, son, Kushina and Mikoto were both best friends back then and they had a friendly rivalry on the side too. So because of that, Kushina-chan is probably happy that Mikoto didn't judge you by your tenant and cares for you. Well, that much is pretty obvious from the look of adoration she just gave you."_

After a pause, Naruto made an _'Oooh.'_ sound and put his attention back to the real world.

Once inside the house, Sasuke visited his room briefly to put away his things and came back down the stairs. He and Naruto sat at the dining table and chatted away while Mikoto cooked dinner and took part in the conversations in between.

It was at this time that Itachi came down the stairs and into the dining room. Sasuke happily bounced off his chair and into his brother while said brother just smiled at the boy's actions.

Sasuke parted eventually and gestured to the blond in the room "Niisan, this is Naruto, my classmate and friend I told you about."

Naruto smiled and bowed "Nice to meet you, Itachi-san." He then looked at the teenager and shaped his mouth into words but did not use his voice 'Hello, Weasel-san.'

Being adept at lip reading, the teen easily interpreted the words. He felt the corners of his lips twitch upwards as he nodded "Good to see you as well, Naruto-kun."

While Mikoto worked on preparing the food for dinner, the other three occupants of the room were talking to each other. Well, mostly just Naruto and Sasuke talking, and Itachi giving one-liners every now and then.

All of this stopped when Fugaku entered the room. By the time he came, dinner was ready to be served, which was done quickly as well. All of them ate in complete silence until Fugaku started to speak. "So Sasuke, who is this and what is your relationship with him?"

 _'I'm right here, you damn bastard.'_ Naruto spoke in his mind in an annoyed tone. Kushina and Kurama growled at the man for different reasons. Kushina, because she was just plain annoyed by the treatment her son was being given and Kurama, because he was getting uncomfortable between so many Uchiha.

Sasuke snapped his head towards his brother and then at his friend and back to his father. "He is Uzumaki Naruto, father. He is my classmate and close friend."

Due to being with Naruto and company for more than an year, Sasuke was no longer keen on making his father proud or acknowledge him. He was satisfied with gaining his mother and brother's attention. But after he decided that, he had noticed how... 'different' his father treated him. And thus, he now kept up a formal relationship with him, which really meant he treated Fugaku much the same as his mother did, who was very close to openly offending him but did not do so because of her reputation as the wife of the clan head.

"Hn." Fugaku grunted his response and continued to eat while glancing at the jinchūriki every now and then.

While eating silently and neatly, Naruto noticed that some killing intent was being directed at him from Fugaku. Apparently, the others had noticed as well but had kept quiet. Unfortunately for the Uchiha clan head, the blond didn't even falter in his eating. After a few moments though, he began to get annoyed by the increasing psychological torture (or an attempt at that).

 _'Pathetic.'_ Naruto thought as he released his own killing intent solely at the man.

Fugaku's eyes widened and he choked on his food for two seconds before the oppressive feeling went away. He glanced at Naruto again while drinking a glass of water. The blond was so calm, it was as if nothing had happened. After a while, he finished his meal and went back to whatever he was doing before coming for dinner, while thinking one thing _'That brat.'_ The reason for his reaction to the killing intent from the boy was because of the suddenness of it, not because of its potency.

Mikoto hid a smirk as she finished her own meal and got up to clean the dishes. Once out of sight of everyone else, she grinned gleefully as she worked. _'Kushina, I'm beginning to love your son more and more.'_

Unbeknownst to anyone, Itachi was thinking very nearly along the same lines. Of course he knew about Naruto's parents. The people who didn't were more likely to have a screw loose in their head.

This was how the meal had come to an end that night. Naruto wished a good night to Sasuke, Itachi and Mikoto and went home to listen to Yui complain about him not having dinner with her.

A few days later, Sasuke introduced Naruto to Shisui, Itachi's closest friend. Their encounter took place in a very simple way.

"Hey there, kid. My name is Uchiha Shisui. I'm Sasuke's cousin." Shisui said, extending a hand to the blond who shook it.

"I'm Naruto... Hmm... You're kinda awesome, you know that?" Naruto said staring at the teen in front of him.

Shisui grinned widely and put a hand on Naruto's shoulder while giving a thumbs-up with his other hand, a standard nice guy pose. "We'll be getting along just fine."

And the two became best friends of a kind.

* * *

For some reason, the goddess in his mindscape was unusually silent since the past few months. When he asked what was wrong, he learnt that she was concerned that one of the most tragic moments in history was about to take place soon.

The Uchiha Massacre.

Indeed, Naruto had begun to see signs of the rumored coup d'état. The members of the clan were in more of a hurry than before and were running around the district. He knew he had to do something about this or else Sasuke would end up hating his brother and everything would fall apart… again. Unfortunately, he didn't have enough influence in political matters to have any effect on decisions. Of course, not many on the council knew that the massacre was planned but he still needed influence.

Since Naruto couldn't influence decisions directly, he decided to do something indirectly.

First of all, Naruto convinced the Hokage to suspend Shisui from taking missions temporarily and place him under house arrest either in his own house or at his friends', but under no circumstances was he to be alone. This would ensure that he would not be isolated at any time and would hence be safer with someone else's company. Safe from Danzō that is.

And then finally came the fated day.

Naruto all but kidnapped Sasuke, Shisui and Mikoto for dinner at his own home. Yui served them the most delicious meals she could make along with some help from Naruto. But even she, being a civilian, could see the tension in the room when they were having dinner. Naruto, of course, feigned ignorance by chatting with Sasuke who genuinely did not know anything. But, Yui noticed that both Shisui and Mikoto were rather gloomy the entire time.

By the time the ANBU arrived on the scene in the Uchiha district, saw the massacre and an alarm was raised in the village, Itachi was already gone. Mikoto and Shisui told Sasuke to stay at Naruto's home while they went and found out what was going on. Though, Naruto saw in their faces that they already knew exactly what had happened.

And so passed the most troublesome day in Sasuke's life.

Though Naruto berated himself every day for not being able to do anything more for the clan, or rather, more for Itachi, he also knew that he couldn't have done much more. If he had tried to stop the massacre entirely, the Uchiha clan would have moved forward with their rebellion and Konoha would have been thrown into pointless chaos and possibly a war.

Of course, there were some merits in the changes he had made as well though.

The best change he made was that he prevented the death of Sasuke's mother Mikoto and his cousin Shisui. Both of them were extremely precious to Sasuke and hence seeing them alive had less of a negative effect on the boy than when his entire clan had died. Naturally, Itachi was also precious to him and was understandably depressed. But, Mikoto and Shisui made sure not to let Sasuke see any corpses or blood. And of course, Sasuke didn't care too much about his father any more so he wasn't _too_ concerned with the man's death.

Because of their actions and their very presence, Sasuke's life goal had changed a little than what it was in his old timeline. Now, Sasuke wanted to _confront_ his brother and question him for his actions rather than outright murder him at first sight. Of course, Sasuke was angry at Itachi but it was not blind rage as it was before.

Sasuke had also asked his mother and cousin the reason for his brother's actions, but they did not tell him completely. For the time being, they practically begged him to not see his brother in a bad light and to give him a second chance.

Thanks to that and Naruto's efforts in pulling out _the stick_ , Sasuke didn't brood as much as he did in Naruto's memory. He interacted with the group but was just a tad bit distant than before. When he did try to brood, this was what happened:

* * *

 _ **Flashback - A week after the massacre**_

 _Sasuke stood with his arms crossed as he watched the others run up and down trees. Tonami had taught them Tree Walking a few days ago and they were practicing it to improve their chakra reserves as well as turn the exercise into a habit and not concentrate on it when trying to do it in the future._

 _Tonami came up to the raven-haired boy and frowned "Are you done already?"_

 _The Uchiha turned his head and grunted. A moment later, he snapped his head back to the man when he felt a bit of killing intent. The older man was smiling hauntingly while cracking his knuckles. "Sasuke... do you think brooding is cool and gets you girls and makes you strong?" He then let out a creepy chuckle that had Sasuke sweating. "Let me tell you something then."_

 _The man took a deep breath and shouted "EMO IS LAME! NOW GET YOUR ASS IN GEAR AND RUN FIFTY LAPS UP AND DOWN THAT TREE!"_

 _"Y-YES, SIR!" Sasuke squeaked loudly and began his vertical laps while Tonami held his head high in pride, proud of being able to beat the brooding out of an Uchiha, while his other students snickered. Tonami slowly turned to them with the same haunting smile, to which they immediately stopped their snickering and resumed their exercises with renewed gusto._

* * *

The next three years passed by in a flash.

The whiskered blond's reputation in the village had improved to the level where most people would remain apathetic in his presence, not treating him like a hero but not particularly going out of their way to mistreat him either. This was the result of half a decade of helping people around the village with their work. He'd gotten onto the good sides of some of the villagers who treated him like a normal friend. Some still glared at him of course, but that number was very low these days.

Naruto's daily routine had just been to train, go to school, train and sleep, which was a rounded up version of his schedule. On the weekends, he'd casually sneak into ANBU headquarters, play a random prank and get out in an obvious fashion. They'd routinely chase him around the village, which was his intent on doing the prank in the first place. Since the people chasing him were highly trained professionals, it allowed him to get better in his stealth, running, strategy (how to prank, where to run, where to hide, etc.) and trap-setting.

It had gotten so routine over the years that the ANBU would regularly fortify security on weekends, for the sole purpose of keeping the blond menace out. As if such a thing would hinder the Prankster King of Konoha. Naruto, armed with the knowledge of fūinjutsu, would pretty much just appear inside, switch their masks for clown masks or set up glitter bombs or something, and just get the hell out and wait for the chaos to start at a form of starting line made especially for chases.

Over the course of three entire years, the single time he got caught was when the head of the ANBU, codenamed 'Fox', had joined the chase. But even with his interference, it still took over two hours to catch him. When he was caught though, the boy had convinced Fox to let him play pranks on purpose every weekend to keep his subordinates alert and not let them slack off. Fox, seeing the merit in that offer, had agreed not to get involved again in his chases again, unless the boy tried to prank Fox himself.

After that incident, Naruto never attempted to prank the head of ANBU ever again, but after two years, he knew himself well enough to be able to prank Fox and get away with it. But he didn't do so out of respect for the man.

Ignoring the usual prank runs, Naruto's training had gone way past the limits of rate of human growth proportional to time. His shadow clones were practically a cheat as he used and abused them mercilessly, while abusing his real body physically in the process.

The vacations between academy semesters he used to train his more dangerous set of abilities. At the start of each vacation, he would make a super-reinforced shadow clone along with a chakra supply seal and leave it in the village to cover his presence. The real Naruto would get permission from the Hokage to go a safe distance outside the village and train in the use of Kurama's chakra, mainly in order to establish the synchronicity needed for the perfect **Bijū Mōdo** _**(Tailed Beast Mode)**_. He also trained extensively in using **Sennin Mōdo** _**(Sage Mode)**_ to reduce the time needed to gather Nature Energy.

Hence, his training had proceeded with no problems.

On his friends' side, they were also proceeding smoothly. All of them had both the Tree Walking and Water Walking exercises down, and with that, all of their chakra levels were low-chūnin or mid-chūnin level already, Sasuke's being high-chūnin. All of their respective taijutsu skills were very good and near the best it could reach with minimal outside help. Ninjutsu was also better in that they were more efficient in its usage, although they did not learn any new ones outside their clan-specific techniques.

In the four years of the Ninja Academy, Tonami had watched over them for the first three years and left them alone for the last year to improve by themselves.

But one thing was for certain in the minds of all members of the group. Naruto was above them all combined. They had once tried to gang up on him in one of their spars, and he had beat them all back with enough energy leftover to go one more time. They seriously wondered why he wasn't a ninja already, since they were pretty sure he should be _at least_ chūnin with his skills. When they actually asked him about it, he had told them that he wanted to graduate alongside his friends as a group and did not want to be the odd one out. His declaration had induced some tears and hugging from the more emotional members of the group.

Another important thing to happen was regarding Naruto's sister Yui.

After all the trouble he went through to give Yui a peaceful life, the story of a boy standing up for his sister had become a kind of kid's story at nighttime which had spread outside the village. Five years after the kidnapping incident, a family of jade-green haired people had come to Konoha. They were three in number with two parents and a young girl of five years of age.

Apparently, once the rumors of the story reached their village, they had spent their resources trying to get to the root of the rumors. By their own words and assurances, the woman of the trio was the younger sister of Yui's biological mother. She had always hated her sister's actions and interests, but she couldn't find her niece after the laboratory explosion incident. Only after hearing the rumors and the rough description of the girl involved did they find her.

But after finding her, they wanted to adopt her and take her to their home in a village a fair distance from Konoha. At first, Yui had been a bit resistant, but a few words from Naruto and his insistence that she be happy for both herself and for his sake with her family, she decided to follow her relatives. She did try to get the blond to come with her but knew that wouldn't happen. Naruto was ten at the time this took place.

On the day they were leaving, Naruto, Yui and her aunt's family had gathered at the gate of the village along with some of the people from the market district. All of them shouted out their goodbyes to their little princess, happy for her to still have some living blood relatives.

Yui hugged her younger brother muttering goodbye to him and walked backwards slowly. Naruto and all the others were busy waving at her. The blond told her to come and visit someday, and gave her a warm smile. Seeing that though, a certain barrier finally broke.

In the blink of an eye, Yui was in front of Naruto and pushing her lips onto his, her arms wrapping around him. She took full advantage of his shock and slightly ajar mouth by quickly pushing her tongue inside. Yui continued to make out in public with the frozen Naruto for ten seconds, fifteen, twenty until she finally let go and separated. She whispered another goodbye right by his ear and pecked him on the cheek before running back to her gaping family and quickly getting them to move, not allowing anyone to see her burning red face.

Due to the stunt, the north gate had become a mess of puddles of blood due to nosebleeds, dropped jaws, feminine giggling, outright laughter, fuming faces and unconscious perverts.

The most severe case was the frozen blond boy standing in the middle of the chaos, eyes wide, mouth open, hands and feet frozen. The people around actually had to admit him into a hospital to cure his temporary paralysis which was gone after about a day. _An entire day_.

Anyway, after the incident, Naruto had wondered about what to do about the home they had lived in. Before leaving, Yui had transferred all the rights to the property to him so he was thinking how best to use it. In the end, he decided to keep the shop downstairs as a way to make some money by selling the vegetables and fruits he had been growing in the training ground. But instead of a shop, he converted it to a stall so that the Civilian Business Association couldn't have any quarrel with him, the 'demon brat', even though no one called him that anymore, at least not openly. The staff for the stall he filled with **Henge** 'd shadow clones, reinforced ones.

The last important thing to have happened is that Naruto revealed one of his secrets to his friends.

When they reached an age that he was sure they were smart enough to think things through - which was the age of 12, one year before graduation from the academy - Naruto assembled all eight of them in the Hokage's office and told them about the presence of a bijū in his gut. Though he feared they would reject him or hate him, he found that their respect for him had grown even more than before, which was admittedly a lot already. Not a single one of them shunned him and it warmed his heart to see them accept him… again. Even though he could have told them about his tenant some other time, he confessed he didn't want to keep secrets from them… not too many at least.

Ever since that day, whenever a random villager glared at Naruto, all of his friends glared right back at him/her, severely unnerving the rebellious villager.

They thought for a moment that Naruto was using the Kyūbi's power to win their fights against him, but a vehement denial from the blond in question ceased that line of thought. If nothing else, they knew Naruto would not lie. Not to his friends. So they believed in his words.

After that day however, Naruto had noticed that Ino was spending substantially more time with him. She would invite him to her house for dinner at least three times a week, with Sakura joining occasionally. As a result, he had gotten very familiar with the members of her family as well as her clan. He politely ignored the playful sexual assault Mana attempted every time he visited, as he talked with Inoichi before and over dinner.

Though the cause for his presence, Ino, never showed any strange signs around Naruto. By his thoughts, along with his parents', she was either masterfully concealing her emotions or she was genuinely more friendly and wanted to show her support for him for his 'burden'.

He supposed it was the latter and just left the matter… for now.

* * *

Today was the day of the Genin Graduation Exam for the final year academy students.

All of the students, except one, were seated on the benches and chatting happily with their neighbors. Some were still trying to cram in any bit of knowledge they could get in the last minute.

The Inheritance Gang were much more calmer than their neighbors though.

As usual, Kiba was showing off his alpha-ness as usual, Shikamaru was asleep, Chōji was eating chips, Ino was trying to get the lazy Nara to wake up, Shino was buzzing (read: seated stoically with the subtle sound of insects around him), Hinata was looking around the class, Sakura was making small talk with Sasuke who was replying minimally while keeping his head on his palm looking bored out of his life. They were all wearing their normal outfits but the girls in the group had much more muscle mass than if they were to diet, hence having a certain appeal to them.

At that moment, the door to the classroom slid open silently and in walked someone the entire class, if not the entire village, knew very well. Though when they saw him, some of the female population of the class blushed unknowingly.

Uzumaki Naruto, at the age of thirteen, stood at 5'3 - a quarter of an inch taller than Sasuke. His golden blond hair was kept in a spiky fashion with a pair of goggles around his neck. He had trimmed his bangs which used to make him look identical to his father, since he wanted a bit of uniqueness.

He was wearing black cargo pants with blue ninja sandals, a sleeveless black zip-up jacket - left open - with a red swirl on the back and thin orange borders, along with a form-fitting short-sleeved orange undershirt. The jacket had several pockets lining its inner area which were empty at the moment, sans the academy equipment. Both of his hands were sporting black fingerless gloves with a metal plate strapped to its back.

A kunai pouch was securely strapped to his right thigh, along with two shuriken/supply pouches at the waist. He had made sure to strengthen each piece of his attire with seals for durability, along with a seal for self-repairing minor damage.

Naruto walked in with his hands in his pockets and went to the empty seat beside Hinata who was, at the moment, blushing up a storm similar to the other girls. The reason for that were his abdominal muscles that were showing slightly through his orange shirt. Ignoring the red storm around him, the blond smiled and waved casually to his friends, who waved back, before seating himself.

Some of the girls in the class eyed him for a few minutes until Iruka barged in and silenced them all, shortly after which Mizuki entered, openly glaring at the blond jinchūriki in the class.

Iruka watched all of them calm down and swept his eyes across the class while raising an eyebrow at his favorite blond's new attire. Done with his initial inspection, he explained the rules of the exam and distributed the sheets for the first part of the exam - the written test.

With the new reforms from the Ninja Council under the supervision of the Hokage, the basic rules regarding the score were as follows.

Minimum overall percentage of 75% needed to pass the exam and become Genin.  
Passing grade for individual subjects is 50%.

This meant that the student must have 50% minimum score in all four subjects - Written, Physical Conditioning, Weapon Throwing and the Basic Three Ninjutsu. Beyond that however, they must have scores that average upto 75%. This can be done in either one of two ways.

One - The student can score 75% or above in each subject, thus giving the required average.  
Two - The student can score less than 75% in a certain subject while compensating for it in another subject, thereby maintaining the average. But, the low scoring subject must have a minimum of 50%, else the average would be invalidated.

With Naruto's understanding of the rules, he filled the exam sheet so as to receive exactly 50 points, before setting his pen down and waiting. He wrote his answers in ways that no one could fail him because the questions he did answer, he answered masterfully without a single error or missing point. If someone refused to give him points, they would have to do for the entire class.

Once done with the written exams, the students were given a ten minute break before being moved out to the field. There they were asked to run laps, do push-ups, sit-ups and finally, run an obstacle and stealth course. Naruto, along with everyone of his friends, breezed through this part of the exam, earning them a perfect 100.

Next came the weapon throwing test. The goal was to throw 10 kunai and 20 shuriken towards the target a good distance away, with 5 points for every kunai and 2.5 points for every shuriken that hit the target. As a minimum, 5 kunai and 10 shuriken must hit the target to be able to pass.

And Naruto did just that. He flung 5 kunai first which landed with one in the center and four more in the corners of a square, looking like an 'X' mark. After that, he threw the other 5 kunai directly towards the already hit kunai, making them bounce off of them and missing the target entirely. He did the same for the shuriken, flinging 10 at once and hitting perfectly, then deliberately missing the remaining 10.

Every single person there knew he was playing. They knew he was not taking this seriously. They knew that if he wanted to hit the target accurately, he would hit it with complete dead precision. But he didn't. Despite his actions and obvious skill however, the teachers could not simply give him full points for his abilities. Because, in the end, he missed. And hence, they settled on giving him 50 points, since he passed anyway.

Finally came the ninjutsu test. The students were asked to perform the Basic Three Academy techniques - **Henge** _**(Transformation)**_ , **Kawarimi** _**(Substitution)**_ and **Bunshin** _**(Clone)**_. Naruto had long since mastered all three of them and had no problems with performing them. Though the satisfaction he felt when he successfully made three normal clones was one that he would never forget.

Naruto took the given hitai-ate and eyed it for a moment. He felt extremely… relieved to have one in his possession again. For the past few years, reminding himself that he was not a ninja yet and did not have one yet was irritating for him. Now that he finally had one however, he wanted to shout out to the world that he was back again.

He did no such thing of course, a little concerned that the people around might think of him as crazy. Instead, he removed the goggles from his neck and put it in his pocket, before tying the new hitai-ate, his confirmation that he was indeed a ninja of Konoha, around his neck. The blond did not tie it around his forehead because he wanted a new style, something different than before. Which explained the new clothes and the hitai-ate placement.

Naruto flicked his thumb on the metal piece and listened satisfyingly to the cling sound that resounded from it. He closed his eyes, took in a deep breath and smiled. He was back again alright, back in business.

But before going further…

He glanced towards Mizuki who appeared calm on the outside, but was emitting negative emotions in waves. So much so that Naruto didn't even need the Negative Emotions Sensing ability from Kurama.

That problem needed to be fixed.

Once the exams were over, he saw Mizuki coming towards him and smiled secretly.

* * *

At the moment, Naruto was at a forest clearing with the Scroll of Seals, waiting for Mizuki to come and award him 'extra credits'. A while later, the man in question arrived.

He took a look at Naruto and gave an evil smile, which in Naruto's opinion was the least evil smile he had ever seen in his life. "Ah, so you are here after all, Naruto. I was worried you failed the task since there is no alarm sounding in the village."

The blond gave a grin "Who do you think I am Mizuki-tem… I mean Mizuki-sensei?"

The man clearly missed the slip-up and instead threw a kunai at the blond who 'accidentally' stumbled away from it. He looked at the man with obviously faked horror "Wh-Wha? Mizuki-sensei?"

Mizuki was doing his best impression of an evil grin as he looked at the boy down on the ground while he stood on a tree branch above. "Tell me, Naruto. Do you know why the villagers hate you so much? Why they despise you? Why they isolate and abuse you?"

"Yes. Yes I do."

The man laughed loudly before continuing "Well, let me tell you then. It is because you- Wait, what?" He asked dumbly after he processed the boy's words.

This time, it was Naruto who gave an evil grin, which looked much more genuine than the man's attempts "Because…" he controlled Kurama's energy to form nine perfectly defined tails using the red chakra behind him while his eyes became crimson and pupils were slitted

"Because… I am the Kyūbi!" he lifted his head and gave a feral grin.

The blood drained from Mizuki's face as his skin became pale and limbs began to tremble. Suddenly, the jinchūriki in front of him vanished from his line of sight. He looked around while still trembling but could not find him.

"Boo." the boy's demonic voice sounded just behind his ear.

A very girlish scream rung throughout the village before it died down, leaving a few villagers in panic, and the majority in confusion. Some ANBU set out towards the source of the scream to get to the root of the situation.

Back in the forest, Mizuki was lying on the ground, passed out from fear and shock, after having fallen off the branch while Naruto was back in his normal form and laughing his ass off.

"O-Oh my god. That was easily one of the best pranks I've ever played." he said in between his chuckles and gasps for air.

 _ **"Gotta agree with that… It's been a long time since I've seen something like**_ **that** _ **."**_ the bijū within him said while finishing his chuckles with a smirk. Even Kushina and Minato were holding their hands to their mouths to stifle their giggles while the violet-haired goddess had already passed out from excessive laughter.

"Oh hey, you can go now." Naruto said while looking at the base of a tree where the Scroll of Seals was placed. Said scroll went up in smoke as it cleared to show another Naruto holding his throat and taking deep breaths while trying not to laugh himself. He eventually nodded and poofed out of existence.

Naruto got up and stretched his hands above his head, and looked to the unconscious man below him. He shrugged and jumped down to the ground near him. "Guess I'll just drop him off at T&I and go get some ramen." He unceremoniously grabbed the man's leg with one hand and put his other hand in his pocket, and began to walk back towards the village with a smile on his face. It was good to be back alright.

Yep, Uzumaki Naruto was back in the game.

This time, better than ever.

* * *

 **A/N:** And that's a goddamn wrap!

First of all, yes, I apologize for blazing through so many things in a single chapter. I'm sorry for not putting in proper interactions between Naruto and Sasuke's or Ino's family, but I just wanted to just get to the starting line already. I'm sick and tired of thinking of things for the childhood part, and I just wanted to end that quickly.

But do not worry. I am planning to put in some interactions between them in future chapters. Just not now, that's all.

 **EDIT (17/11/2016):** Ok. I will honestly say that I did not know the readers liked Yui that much. So instead of simply purging her from the fic, I have another idea in mind. But it won't happen until maybe one or two chapters later.

One last thing. I hope you like the new name. But the epic-ness will be starting from the next chapter.

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 **REVIEW REPLIES**

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 **1.** Are you serious? Naruto's life has been fucked up by that crazy kami, and he doesn't seem upset about it? This is very unreal... The worst part, is when he think about his non-existing feelings about Hinata. Just NO.  
But... Well, I'll read this story, anyways. I hope a fix with good plot and well-done fights...

 **R.** I edited a bit of the first chapter to add some 'anger' but in the end, he can't just go against her. After all, however nice she may be, she's Kami. And regarding Hinata, the main reply I can give you is 'No romance… yet.' Regarding plot and fights, I honestly have no idea. I just hope to myself I can do well.

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 **2.** Reviewer: Azaira

 **R.** Thank you very much for your incredibly detailed and insightful reviews and I will try my best to fix any issue you as well as anyone else point out specifically.

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 **3.** Reviewer: Percx

 **R.** By now, I think of you as some kind of trusted advisor or something. You reviewed each chapter so far and I am happy and thankful for that. If possible, please continue to do so for this and future chapters as well. Also, yeah. Something's always missing from my chapters. I probably know what it is, but can't get around fixing it. I'll try though. Thanks.

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Thank you for reading this chapter and please leave a **REVIEW** below. It helps. A lot. Please look forward to the next chapter as well. Blaze Out!


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